Maki Kawakita’s fashion photography
If I was a fashion photographer instead of an illustrator, I would probably be Maki Kawakita, or at least be like her. And it’s not because we are both Japanese. I definitely relate to the strong sense of design, composition, angles and color she uses, and most of all, I like how she slips in a funny sense of humor into her fashion photography. I saw some of her work in a show called Click Chic last year, and it was amazing.


Tagged: Japan, Japanese photographers, portraits
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Hidden descrimination in Japan
Photographer Masaru Goto has an interesting series of portraits up at Global Compassion that show every day Burakumin, an ethnically Japanese group of people descended from the untouchables of the feudal Japanese caste system. Read more
We featured Bruce Osborn’s fascinating photo series, Oyako, a little while back on Lost At E Minor. Osborn lives in both Los Angeles and Tokyo, where he works as a commercial photographer and directs TV commercials and music videos. This shot is one of my favourites from this series that looks at the relationships between Japanese parents and their children, running the gamete of society ‘including Kabuki actors, punk musicians, policemen, Buddhist monks, and porno actresses’.
The photography of Lily Nance engages the arresting vulnerability of youth in a way that only the perverse and loving reaction of the subject to its inquisitive observer really can.
Also by YUKO SHIMIZU
Dear Japan art event in New York
Come out to a gallery in Soho, New York, on Saturday afternoon and purchase art for your home for a good cause. The one evening event Dear Japan has been organized by a group of Japanese artists who live in New York. It features 170 illustrators and fine artists, and all the works are $200 or under. It’s a small portion of what most of the participating artists would normally sell their work for. Of course, I am donating for this good cause, too. Read more
BLOW UP: featuring Hanuka, Shimizu, Weber
Three illustrators from vastly different backgrounds — Sam Weber (Canada), Yuko Shimizu (Japan), and Tomer Hanuka (Israel) — are meeting at the crossroads of a distinct American aesthetic to examine their new-found artistic voices through personal mythologies, broken narratives and remixed identities. Each of the illustrators featured as part of BLOW UP (running at New York’s Society of Illustrators until October 16) created new works to be shown for the first time in this exhibition. Read more
How could you not like these crazy hair prints by Shoplifter, the artistic genius behind Bjork’s Medulla cover art hair sculpture. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (1)
HAVE YOUR SAY
Serbian illustrator Ivinca Stevanovic recently illustrated an incredible book about Serbian mythology called Banished Demons. I want it. Read more
I am just a few cans of Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli short of being able to afford this absolutely stunning coffee table.
Australian group Pivot have recently signed with the mighty Warp label and — even better (well, for us anyway) — have written a fun Secret Playlist for us. You can see where the many disparate influences have seeped into their latest recording, the beautiful and colourful, O Soundtrack My Heart.
These fascinating mosaics of twenty-first century human habitation are proof that planned housing isn’t always dull and distasteful, for the bird’s-eye photographer at least. What may be endless rows of generic streets and blocks at ground level suddenly become giant patchwork quilts from the air, perhaps in a weird way proving that there is more to life than what meets the pedestrian’s eye. Read more
We like this blog, Silent Cities. We like seeing images of some of the most noisy and crowded places in the world momentarily bathed in silence. There is something both serene and eerie about these scenes. The images above and below are from London, Sydney and Detroit. Read more
Arriving two years after their debut, Settle Down City, Old Wounds completes Young Widows’ transformation into a top-shelf rock band firing on all cylinders. Forging the best parts of Nirvana, The Jesus Lizard, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Fugazi and The Melvins, Old Wounds is a series of dynamic, thoughtful tunes anchored by cavernous grooves that will certainly push most speakers to their breaking point. Read more
These shoes of all different kinds sport different monsters that glow in the dark. Fun! From Iron Fist Clothing. Read more
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
The return of the Brionvega rr226
Italian brand Brionvega has resurrected the classy Radiofonografio piece first created in 1965. The updated version is just like the original turntable/radio unit, but also has a CD/DVD player.
Christoph Niemann illustrates a nightmare flight
New York Times illustrator Christoph Niemann has created a brilliant visual diary outlining the peril and pitfalls that beset the everyday passenger based on his recent experience flying from New York to his home town of Berlin. Read more
Baltimore Mural by Josh Van Horne
My friend Josh Van Horne, a local Baltimore artist, did this amazing mural in our neighborhood that depicts the history of this warehouse-laden area.
Francoise Nielly’s Yellow series
Parisian visual artist Francoise Nielly brings technicolour to the forefront in her latest series, Yellow. Featuring thick impasto palette knife strokes and trippy neon hues, Nielly captures the vulnerable expressions of her muses to a tee. Read more
Benjamin Edminston’s psychedelic heads seem to have some fearful wisdom behind their blissed-out eyes. Read more
This Powder Necklace features a pearlized Turbo Cinereus shell with tiny holes drilled into the bottom, filled with a sparkling silver-colored powder that when gently tapped, sprinkles a light dusting on the wearer’s chest. Designed by Stephanie Simek. Read more
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Belle said | 14 March, 2008
Wow.. these are really great…