Todoroki Kawaii

"The science of design, or of line-drawing, if you like to use this term, is the source and very essence of painting, sculpture, architecture... Sometimes... it seems to me that... all the works of the human brain and hand are either design itself or a branch of that art."  - Michelangelo  Drawing is a communication tool and indispensable skill which helps condition the mind to visualize abstract ideas, concepts, emotions, designs and paradigms.   Something to remember.

It's humbling a great to "discover" an artist who inspires you so much, but had existed for so long without your knowing.  At Tokyo's Bunkamura Museum ,   I was lucky stumble up on the works of Illya Repin (1844 -1930) a great Russian painter whose works can mentioned in the same breath as Leo Tolstoy as being one of Russia's great artistic treasures. Without a doubt a master painter in terms of his ability to capture realism.  (At a time where impressionism was becoming the new flavor of the month)  His ability to capture the spirit of people almost borders on caricature and almost has an "animated" feel to it. Subtle caricature,  dramatic staging as well as subtle social commentary, there is certainly something Norman Rockwell-ish about Repin.   There is this love of people and ability to capture the most appealing or compelling parts of people in his paintings and portraits.  Truly inspiring.  Today will be the last day Repin will be exhibited ...

   I was rummaging through my old martial arts reference books.  Many of which are related to Chinese martial arts.  One of my favorite historical references is a comprehensive collection of Bruce Lee's letters to his family, friends, martial arts and film colleagues:   Bruce Lee:  Letters of the Dragon, Correspondence, 1958 - 1973. edited by John Little.   The last letter written by Bruce Lee on the last day of his life, July 20, 1973 leaped out at me: 41, Cumberland Rd.  Kowloon, H.K. July 20, 1973. Adrian Marshall Suite 920, Century City 10100 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, Calif. 90067 U.S.A. Dear Adrian,   Will be arriving Los Angeles on Aug. 3rd, would like to sit down and hope you can leave open the weekend of Aug. 4th and 5th to discuss the followings: 1/ the deal with Hana Barbera 2/ Warner's proposition 3/ Titanas from Italy 4/ Andy's proposition from H.K. which I will explain to you when ...

"Whether he is an artist or not, the photographer is a joyous sensualist, for the simple reason that the eye traffics in feelings, not in thoughts." - Walker Evans Nothing sums up Ontoshiki better than this. One of the advantages of living in Tokyo is that it has given me the opportunity to meet a wide range of extremely talented artists and wonderful souls. Ontoshiki (otherwise known as Justin Vun) is one of them: an Australian photographer, a talented professional, an artist, a visual sensualist and a gifted storyteller. All this informs his photography and is easily read in his work. There is a stream of consciousness narrative in his work that as he puts it, "spans both Eastern and Western cultures and philosophies". Anyone who appreciates fine photography HAS to follow Ontoshiki. He did me the great favor by coordinating photo session for my other vocation within Chinese martial arts. (Please see Ki Martial Arts Studio ). I found it so amazing Onto...

I'm sure anyone who has tried to pick up a pencil understands how frustrating drawing can be. When I was in college I had two drawing teachers.  One drawing teacher was very strict and unforgiving. The other was very loose and open minded.  Continually he would say, "I can't teach you how to draw, but I can show you some of the rules."  While the other one would say, "NO, it's like this.", taking my fingers like I was a three-year old and repositioning them on my pencil. Drawing or true discipline in art is something you have to learn from someone else.  A master.  You can try to reinvent the wheel, but you'd be better off listening very closely to someone who has been at it longer that you and build off that. There are tons of "How To Draw" books out there.  But there aren't so many art books that teach you "How to Think".  Lots of books or tutorials are quite similar to what you see above. The ability to draw is an indispen...

Once made the mistake of telling a Tokyo resident that Walt Disney couldn't actually draw Mickey Mouse well.  She never spoke to me ever again.  Seriously. The image of Walt Disney is damn near sacred in Japan.  Or Tokyo anyway.  It's difficult to leave your house and not see at least one Disney related image between home and your final destination. In honor of Walt Disney's 110th birthday, the Disney Family Museum put on an exhibition with the Matsuya Ginza department store in the high-end shopping district of Ginza. Occasionally pedestrian, but it was  very much worth taking a look (despite the aftertaste of the sledgehammer merchandising).  Lots of artifacts from Walt's personal possessions as well as artifacts from the past and wall in the Bambi section that paid tribute to Tyrus Wong that was nice to see. Below are some shots from the exhibition.    Apparently Walt's early drawings of Mickey Mouse were there, but I didn't get to see them...

The other week I posted about Katsuhiro GENGATEN exhibition at 3331 Arts Chiyoda. Amazing work. Sadly pictures weren't allowed in the exhibition, but I was able to get a shot of this: