"Pimp my rice paddy." Crop art for aliens, instead of by them.
posted on Jul 20, 2007 - View this thread

"Paths are made by walking" as these artists prove by walking in the park for five days. Other projects include knitting a sweater for a giraffe, slowing down a shooting star (to allow for a lengthy wish), sprouting a seed in their hands, globes drawn by memory, and more.
posted on Apr 16, 2007 - View this thread

Ukiyo-e, a collection of dreamy, mostly charming, flash animations of Edo period Japanese paintings. Pictures of the floating world (everyday life) by Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro. Encyclopedic list of floating world images on the web. Hokusai sketches in flash. [related]
posted on Apr 7, 2007 - View this thread

An illustrated edition of the Ise Monogatari (Wikipedia, review of translation). Yeah, yeah, it's in Japanese, but just keep hitting the forward button (the leftmost of the two on the right, red/brown rather than blue/green) and you'll find lots of pretty pictures. I can't improve on the descriptions by Matt of No-sword, where I found it, so I'll just quote him: "Behold our hero maxin' and relaxin' at his writing-desk, looking like he just got hired as a middle manager at his dad's lighter-flint concern! Thrill to the famous scene where he is visited by the Pineapple of Golden Week Past! Laugh as he is mistaken for a member of Aerosmith! Wonder why everyone is just sitting around smiling contentedly when the building is obviously on fire!"
posted on Feb 27, 2007 - View this thread

Geiko of Kyoto is a stunning photo gallery of Kyotos's Geisha - both the mature Geiko and the apprentice Maiko. Melissa Chasse annotates many photos with fascinating details and offers an account of her tea party with Mamechika, a lovely Maiko. For more, this lovely Geisha site offers a brief history from the era of the floating world, more photos, Ukiyo-e art, and links. Also see y2karls' prior definitive post on ukiyo-e.
posted on Sep 23, 2006 - View this thread

Delaware 7+h Album and 5+h Exhibi+ion: Too Slow to Live Experimental -- ha, excuse me, experimen+al ar+ and visuals by JAPAnese LUNA+ics DELAware. What made me bring this to your attention? Two delicious bites, Monte Blanc and Walk, Don't Learn. The entire album is available to download if you've become enamored or are generally adventurous. [Flash, Audio, embedded gifs, generally odd]
posted on Sep 5, 2006 - View this thread

The Works of Giovanni Battista Piranesi: high-resolution scans of all of Piranesi’s etchings. Also, the plates from Les Ruines De Pompei by François Mazois (1812-38), and, the complete 9-volume Le Antichità di Ercolano Esposte (The Antiquities discovered in Herculaneum) published in Naples from 1755-62. Also, at the same site (UT-PICURE: the Center for Research on Pictorial Cultural Resources, at The University of Tokyo), images from the Stibbert Collection of Japanese costume.
posted on Jul 4, 2006 - View this thread

The Murakami Method : hailed as the Japanese Andy Warhol, Takashi Murakami (previously discussed here) lives in his factory wherein he "makes art and sleeps." Murakami spans the artistic spectrum as both a proponent of Japanese otaku culture - the "geek" culture of manga and video games and the author of a PhD dissertation of Nihonga - a style of Japanese painting whose name literally translates to "Japanese painting." Further bridging the gap between "high and low culture," Murakami shows his work in museums and in the Louis Vuitton store in Tokyo.
posted on Apr 3, 2005 - View this thread

The Japanese Gallery of Psychiatric Art. Images from Japanese psychiatric medication advertisements: 1956-2003 (via Absent without leave)
posted on Mar 9, 2005 - View this thread

Shibori is an amazing Japanese textile dying technique--a very sophisticated form of tie-dye, where nubby, lumpy, bizarre things like this are transformed after dying into this fish or these flowers (scroll for detail) or these starbursts. Specifically this odd thing became this (detail). You can find excellent photos and descriptions of the process here, here(scroll down and hold mouse over photo), and here. There is also information at the World Shibori Network . This photo shows partially dyed fabric and here is a video of the preparation for dying. Shibori is very labor intensive (carpal tunnel syndrome-city) and was a one time subject to a sumptuary tax and one form was outlawed by an emperor for being too extravagant. There are many different knots and ties for different patterns--browse here, here(gallery1-7), and here. Shibori can be used to make some striking and detailed images. Diverse examples of shibori --iris, layered squares, waves, kimonos, large bridge banner, subtle black and white winter scene, , a nifty “aerial view” of earth as a tidal pool with hot air balloons (detail of anemones). Don't miss the stunning work of Hiroko Harada (English/Japanese). I especially like Rain In the Forest, There Are Ripples On the Cloth, Seasonal Changes, and this large installation. You can browse more here, but the Japanese page has more.
posted on Jan 16, 2004 - View this thread

Posters of Toei Yakuza Movies.
posted on Mar 4, 2003 - View this thread

Rice Ball Guy is my new favorite superhero. He's like, cool an' stuff. (The link is messed up, but have a go anyway. Really. Rice Ball Guy is cool, I'm tellin' ya.)
posted on Sep 5, 2001 - View this thread