It's cool to be.....

Asian. 

Observe. 

Harajukuness. Anime eyes. Heck, anime. Punk Tokyo pop. Tattoos in the Asian style... (I am rambling because I am SO tired.)

Last week at work, I was walking around the framing station only to glance at what I thought was a famous Hokusai poster. Instead it depicted "The Divine Wave" frothing into millions of bunnies. I thought it was brilliant, and had actually never seen it before. Just a couple days ago I stumbled upon a badbutt website, featuring the very popular, half asian inspired illustrations of well... I won't mention their names. Check it:

Original + bunnies= Modern. At least that's what they do a lot of. Taking traditional well known woodblock print pieces from the Edo period and throwing their twist on it. So this mostly means splashing millions of bunnies everywhere... do I sound bitter? Nah, I love it, but hate it. Just like all those people who think they can become Japanese by pretending they are. Ooops. 

Awww.

Yesterday morning my bf brought home these two pieces of cardboard for me, that he had cut out of some shipment boxes from Japan. (He works at a huge Asian market). He said the other guys laughed but I couldn't help but feel it was the sweetest gesture ever. 

Anywho, being half Japanese, and completely fascinated with the art of Japan and the difference of expression/communication between our culture and theres' I fell truly in love with these two hand drawn comics. 

In the meantime, I am going to figure out how to display these two odd pieces :) 

New Inspirations

I've decided that until I have a better income and can afford more supplies, I can still work on designs, and do other creative things like painting smaller pieces of art that could be more affordable for people (when I try to sell them), framing prints of drawings, or creating handmade gift cards.

I don't know why I love that last idea so much. I think it's because I used to do that kind of thing anyways, just never tried to market them before. 

Graphic Design advice from Banksy, haha maybe I should try that too! 

Finally.

Some good art. 

It's really interesting to see the kinds of artwork that comes through the frame shop. I mean really, who has the money for frivolous things like art when simple necessitous things like milk and bread have become 7% more expensive? 

The funny thing is that people seem to spend a 300% markup more on their frames than the art. I mean... I've seen it too many times. People go on vacation to Europe and buy cheap prints or canvas art from local vendors and come back to the states to pay $350 to frame the thing. Art is worth its weight if you love the piece, but seriously? These are upper middle class Americans settling for boring landscapes to hang in their living room. Ugh. I'm tired of that, let's be more adventurous. 

But today, a buyer/reseller of art came in with an original Joan Miro lithograph. *music plays* A breath of fresh air. Apparently, it could fetch $30k. 

Question du Jour

So, this is like my dream come true--  I would LOVE a bookshelf. Secondly, I would LOVE to have it in the Pantone matching system. My goodness that is amazing. 

Today is under construction. Thank you for waiting.

Aren't these cute. Of course they're not any more useful than normal, but great packaging idea for the typical matchbook. I would totally collect these. Besides... who doesn't love playing with fire? 

Thought for today.

1. OR is for elitest hippies

2. The View is for crotchety menopausal women

3. Free newspapers cause most of the trash on the street 

4. Perfume ads will only and always purely sell an image 

5. The secret to higher education's steep prices isn't the education itself, but the elite alumni and impressive name with which to network

Interesting

You shouldn't mess with graffiti writers.

The longest recorded piece of graffiti was painted by a
student in the toilets of his college at Changsha, China
in 1915. It consisted of over 4000 characters criticising
his teachers and the state of Chinese society.

After completing this masterpiece the student handed
himself in and was paraded in front of the school and
threatened with expulsion. The student was a 22 year
old Chairman Mao. A graffiti artist who later founded
the People's Republic of China and was responsible

for the deaths of over 30 million people.