Skip to main content

Third Naruko Kokeshi Exhibit @ Gates Inn Gallery U

I stopped by Gallery U today, but first I got all spiffed up in a kimono. 
Being the incredibly humble artist that I am, I made a beeline for my own work before even glancing at the other works. 
I was glad to see my Kokeshi were in a good spot, but the overall level was so high, though proud to be in such esteemed company, I'm not sure how I measure up. 

Let's look at some of the dolls I thought were extremely cool. 

These dolls by Etsuko Kurimori really show off the beauty of the wood and incorporate a fresh, natural style. 

I love the damaged schoolgirl motif and also the style used here, which while tackling popular manga/anime tropes uses a clean, original style. The animals held by the girls are great additions  

Of the figures here by Masaya Miyashita, the Nature one really caught my eye, but I'm a sucker for moon motifs as well. 


Speaking of moon motifs, these three moon dolls by Tomoko Miyakawa are just gorgeous. I love the deep blue and how the characters follow the moon phase progression. 

Growth was a common theme and a natural one as we were all given a set of three differently-sized dolls to work with.
Check out the growth cycle of the frog by Kyoko (Sakai?)
 

There were all different sorts of designs including abstract, highly graphical, and traditional. This kabuki set by Taeko Oda was quite eye-catching so I'll finish with it. 

The exhibition continues until next Sunday at 4, and I'll be there then. 
Gallery U is just a short walk from Matsudo station. It's the top left brown square in the map below. 

Hope to see you there!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Crosshatch practice - Edward S. Curtis "Big Head"

I decided to continue to practice crosshatching and I thought I photos by photographer Edward S. Curtis might be excellent thanks to the balance of light and dark and clear gradations in his works. The moment I saw the photo of Big Head (his name, original found here: http://m.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/04/native-americans-portraits-from-a-century-ago/100489/) I knew that he would be the perfect practice subject. I did a very quick layout with blue-pencil, added a few shading guides, and then jumped right in with a Tachikawa Finepoint System 0.1 and 0.4. I put emphasis on trying out techniques rather than slavish attention to detail. Even though I'm working on developing a more cartoonish style and don't intend to focus on realism, it was definitely an excellent way to practice drawing uniform lines and applying different combinations of patterns. I realize now that in some areas, I should have left the horizontal lines alone without crossing them with verticals. I'm goin...

Tokyo Musume

In just a few days my first solo exhibition will open in Tokyo. July 16th to my birthday July 21st. I'm very excited and more than a bit nervous. The theme is Tokyo Musume (Tokyo Girls) . I'll also display several works from the 100 robots series which I have up on comicspace . I'm also a complete wreck trying to complete a design job for a big publishing company (logo for an online comic) and the opening to a tv show for another big company all while trying to finish more artwork for the show. The pic you see here is the postcard/flyer for the show. Also is a larger view of the map. If you are in Japan, you can find Gallery House Maya very easily. At Gaienmae station, take Exit 3 and go straight to the cross signal. Cross and turn right. You should pass a Family Mart on the left. Take the first left. After about 3 minutes you should see Maya on your right. It's a small house/gallery flanked by two large bushes. The gallery requests that no one sends flowers, but genero...

DSC 19 - Cable & Baby Deadpool

I like it when heroes aren't too serious. Kyle Baker's turn on Plastic Man, Flaming Carrot, Megaton Man, normalman, The Tick are all favorites of mine. I think I like Deadpool for the same reasons.