Cultura Inquieta
Transcription
Cultura Inquieta
THE JAPAN ISSUE THE GREAT WAVE - TSUNAMI ART NIPPON EROTICA YAKUZA IN PICS RAKUGAKI INQUIETA M A G A Z I N E contemporary art ll music ll photography ll street art ll design ll erotica 01 / 2012 1 Cover illustration by Aled Lewis 2 INQUIETA Welcome to the first issue of INQUIETA magazine. The singular goal we have set for ourselves for INQUIETA is to take art from its pedestal to make you think, object, laugh, and most of all, feel. We invite you, dear reader, to review, browse, save, edit, delete, eat, spit at, enjoy, be disgusted or titillated by this issue. INQUIETA magazine will appear bimonthly in both Spanish and English. It is part of CULTURA INQUIETA, the platform for music and the arts. To join the family, participate in the discussion, or simply to see more on arts & culture please visit us on Facebook or on our website, www.culturainquieta.com. We love feedback! So don't be shy. Cheers. 3 日本の刺青 (irezumi) Hand carved and intricate, traditional Japanese irezumi, literally "putting in ink", have little to do with their western counterparts. Taking months or years to finish, they require extraordinary endurance and technical skill. A brief excursion into the world of these colourful masterpieces of storytelling and imagination. 4 5 6 胸割り (munewari) Munewari, or chest dividing, is the Japanese style of leaving the centre of the torso bare. Irezumi are designed to be hidden underneath a kimono, rendering them an intimate piece of art revealed to only few. 手彫り (tebori) Tebori means literally “hand carving” and is the most painful tattoing technique. It is done with a tool that resembles a calligraphy brush tipped with extremely sharp needles. It is dipped into ink, and the needles then puncture the flesh, leaving colour under the surface of the skin. As there is no way to correct mistakes, it takes a hand with expertise and experience, especially since every slip could cause injury. 7 墨 (sumi) Ink is made from ashes of pine branches and roots. The ash is mixed with ‘niwaka’ to make the ink stick. To obtain Niwaka, the collagen and gelatin of animal skins or fish is extracted by boiling them in water then cool it until it solidifies. One ink stick costs 40000 yen (400 Euros). With it, enough ink for the day is prepared in an inkstone. The ink is of a Ph7 and is thus totally neutral. 8 9 10 Irezumi | The Spider Tattoo 1966, Yasuzo Masumura A dark erotic tale, The Spider Tattoo (Irezumi) follows the descent of a woman whose extreme beauty and ferocious nature bring her to the abyss. Abducted and sold into a geisha house, Otsuya catches the attention of a mysterious tattoo master who is using her body as a living canvas for his dark art, As if under the invisible influence of its evil force, Otsuya grows ever more wicked as she excels in the trade she has been forced into, eventually avenging the degradation she had been suffering by consuming the lives of the unwitting men she holds under her spell. Left: Feminine and sensual portrait of a woman with irezumi, by Russian photographer Kandaeva Anastasiia. 11 the great wave - tsunami art How to capture the unconceivable? We are looking at how a world changing event can become a matrix for creativity. A collection about the aesthetics of a catastrophe. 12 Greg Stimac Breathtaking juxtaposition of the ordinary and the extraordinary, two people playing a round of table football whilst nature wreaks havoc. 13 Scott Yoell This simple yet powerful human tsunami reminds us that the most destructive forces come not from outside but from within the human race. 14 Kyodo News The anatomy of disaster: Kyodo news contributed some of the most compelling images of the aftermath of one of Japan's largest recorded earthquakes. 15 There are few images that capture chaos as beautifully as this shot of post-tsunami 16 Japan. 17 18 01 Artwork from Magnitude 9 - The Tsunami Project cfsl.net/tsunami/ 02 01 02 03 03 With her humorous illustration Everyday tsunami Sheharzad Arshad tells the story of small catastrophes we encounter in our everyday life. Illustration by Bo Berry. Illustration by Viins. 19 20 Labourot & Lerolle play with the symbolism of Astroboy to paint the mood of an undestructable nation gone vulnerable. 21 Distaster Papercuts by Bovey Lee Bovey Lee's intricate cutouts are a poetic prophecy of the events that were going to bring the world to a halt just two years after their making. Her work reads like a diary of disaster, exploring natural and nuclear crisis. What we find praticularly impressive is how she manages to so without any sensationalism, instead applying scrutiny and thoughtfulness to her work full of painstaking detail. 22 Details, Tsunami Enmeshed 23 Power Plant - The Sacrifice of Dawn 24 Power Plant - Pieta Power Plant - Reclining Buddha 25 26 Atomic Jellyfish 27 落書き r a k u - g a k i ENCOUNTERS WITH JAPANESE STREET ART Although it took some time for graffiti to manifest itself in Japan,it has developed a unique style heavily influenced by calligraphy, kanji, anime and magna. They have a specific graphic quality, indicating unparalleled intricateness and refined technical skill. Most artists reference manga in their work, be it through their motifs, their storytelling style or their particular aesthetics. 28 29 01 30 02 03 01 02 03 L.A. boldness meets manga. Dynamic graffiti in Hiroshima by Shizentomotel and Nanashi, via Graffiti Japan. All too often we forget about the caducity of things. This simple interpretation of Kanagawa's "Great Wave" adds movement to a formerly unloved street corner. Colourful piece by unknown artist. 31 01 02 32 03 01 02 03 Piece by unknown artist, tagged as Toy. In line with Japanese tradition, paintings stay in two dimensions. Instead, contrasting colours and pro portions tell the story. A politically charged piece of street art, this shows Japanese war planes and ships, along with a ninja warrior in the corner. We like the juxtaposition of traditional versus modern warfare, and the graphic beauty achieved through repetition and stark contrasts. French artist Space Invader chose vintage game characters as motifs, using tiles to create pixels. We love the simplicity of this nice play on analog and digital. 33 34 Gajin Fujita Although not strictly speaking street art, Gajin Fujita's work nevertheless made it into this section because of its obvious references to graffiti. In his paintings, Fujita blends a rich diversity of influences that range from traditional Japanese ukiyo-e to manga; from American pop culture to L.A. street art. The result is an intriguing clash of cultures - vibrant, fast, often erotic, but never without a humorous wink. 35 Shunga meets pop art in this erotic mural by Gajin Fujita. 36 37 38 Mural by Gajin Fujita 39 40 Diorama art by Paramodel Like giant blue roots making their way through public space, this strange and beautiful installation is made from conventional toy rail tracks. With proximity, more and more details like miniture mountains and trucks reveal themselves as the many dimensions of the installation unfold. It's a surprising play on micro and macro by Osaka based artist duo Yasuhiko Hayashi and Yusuke Nakano aka Paramodel. 41 Tokyo, by pixel artist EBOY 42 43 yakuza in pics 44 Anton Kuster's Look Inside the Yakuza After months of negotiations, Belgian photographer Anton Kusters spent two years with one of Japan's most notorious Yakuza gangs; known for their brutality, tattoos and strict code of honor. The result is a stunning and intimate visual account of the life inside this inaccesible subculture - from their business meetings, bath houses, night clubs, and even funerals. 45 Yazuka series by Anton Kusters 46 47 48 Yazuka series by Anton Kusters 49 nippon erotica Merging traditional with its original shunga art, contemporary Japanese erotica are a voluptuos play on submission and domination, seduction, violence and perversion. 50 Shunga by Toshio Saeki 51 52 Toshio Saeki One of Japan’s most notorious artists, Toshio Saeki's unique and depraved style may elicit surprise, shock or even disgust, but it never fails to leave the viewer spellbound and hungry for more. Using traditional Japanese techniques, he creates seductive paintings that are rich with perveted imagination. Saeki seeks to challenge what we find socially acceptable by taking the unconscious out of the dark and presenting it with unafraid boldness. 53 “In the modern world, where one rarely stops to think about the truth behind the moment, you might enjoy it if you take a peep at my mysterious and strange illusions. To those who frown at them, I want to place the drawings right in front of your face and ask if you really disapprove... How wonderful it would be to give shape to psychological pictures which everyone hides and holds deep within them.” Toshio Saeki 54 55 Nobuyoshi Araki One of the foremost contemporary photographers in Japan, Araki's work challenges taboos and isn't afraid to confront dark and complex themes such as sex and death. Often called a misogynist, his photography is as controversial as captivating, but most will agree it's impossible to withdraw from the strange beauty that emmits from his motifs. 56 57 01 58 02 01 02 Nobuyoshi Araki at work. Beautiful use of light and shadow in this spectacular erotic shot. The graphic quality of the image and its use of perspective to play with proportions to tell the narrative remind us of traditional Shunga art. 59 60 01 01 Bondaged schoolgirl 02 Seductive nude 02 61 62 Namio Harukawa Harukawa's work revolves around a singular subject: femdom. His large breasted, wide hipped heroines are deliciously cruel in their disregard for the wretched men that are drawn to their sexual organs like flies to honey. Just like his subjects' body shapes, his scenes are exaggerated to the point of absurdity, and always spiked with a dose of sharp humor. 63 64 Jeff Faerber When Andy Warhol said humour & sex didn't mix, he obviously hadn't been lucky enough to enjoy Jeff Faerber's brilliant painting series. Based on traditional Japanese Shunga prints, he captures the look of the originals but updates it with western motifs and a good dose of irony. Tea for three 65 01 02 66 02 01 Shunga 02 Texting 03 Keynesian 67 YUKIO MISHIMA (1925 - 1970) 68 nippon erotica 私 は, 生 命の詩を作りたい I WANT TO MAKE A POEM OF MY LIFE. 69 sculpture Odani Motohiko Dark, poetic and immaculately aesthetic, Motohiko's scultptures are like specimen from another world that were frozen in time and then taken to the here and now for us to observe. They seem to allow us to catch a glimpse of their own evolution, bringing about dreams of bio engineering and cyborgology. In his own words, Motohiko is looking to "capture the concepts of movement and transformation, dynamic and speed in the sculpture". The next pages portray just a fraction of his extensive and diverse body of work. 70 71 sculpture 01 02 72 03 73 74 04 05 01 02 03 04 05 Hollow: What rushes through every mind Erecto (clara) Human Lesson Erectro (Bambi) Berenice 75 next issue F O 76 FOO OUT IN M ARC H2 D 012 77 Editor Marei Wollersberger Director Juan Yuste Design Flat Estudio Press Susana Zorraquino www.culturainquieta.com www.facebook.com/#!/culturainquieta [email protected] 78