Not to miss, I went to see the exhibition of Japanese woodblock print at Brooklyn Museum. I always liked the Japanese print, specifically Ukiyo-e, for its subtle yet beautiful color scheme. I find resemblance in color pallet between kimono and west African and Indian textile, which I also adore. That makes me wonder where old Japanese people picked up such design taste? My guess is our fruitful four-season culture and the color indigenous nature of the island offers.
Each of Utagawa family has his own characteristic. A collaboration of two artists was also common where one artist did figures and another did the landscape. My favorite was the ones done by indigo. It's simply amazing how tiny details are clearly printed by one color, of course in different shades. Interesting, too, to see the difference in Japanese traditional indigo (Ai) and western indigo.
One of the work was created when the artist was over 70 years old; completion in details is almost the work of craftsman, rather than an artist.
Since I was there, I checked out MURAKAMI. I don't like it as 'art." What's interesting is (stealing my boyfriend's idea, which I agree) that he established the fact anything called art can be major influences in any other industry, including fashion and commercial. At the same time, its effective in many fields therefore makes me feel like denying its pure art. It's characters, anime, design, and phenomenon. Question of 'what's art' never gets answered, at least for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment