Kazuki Takamatsu

I've always had a fascination in Japanese art, their culture and philosophy and wish to one day visit the country itself once the pennies have accumulated.

The interest culminated from devoting a vast quantity of my youth to the Final Fantasy games, the computer graphics I can only describe as being lush - the multitude of vibrant colours are quite frankly beautiful and the textures silky smooth.

(Final Fantasy X:

See the image on the left).

As an art student my focal point henceforth shifted from pencils to a want to emulate such art on a computer.

The heart of this account is not however Japan, nor Final Fantasy or my own history but an artist I recently came across who encapsulates everything I love and then some.

Kazuki Takamatsu creates works which your natural reaction will say 'are digitally painted'..if you do, you'd be completely wrong. He uses gouache, hand painted, monochromed based

usually depicting a young female character, buildings, plants etc giving a real sense of surrealism and astonishing depth.

He's taken the path that contemporary artists have discovered and reverses it somewhat. To me it's as if he's in a world where computers existed before traditional art and he's moved forward to replicate a digital creation via traditional methods.

Whilst visually unique, on closer analysis the theme of his works are melancholic and depict a sense of despair as you can see in the image above titled:

"Without Even Knowing What It Is I Should Be After".

Quite ghostly, the hands reaching out, the mass of dismembered bodies gathered for warmth or protection..it's open to interpretation.

That head just floating at the bottom of the image with the hand resting on it is unsettling.

Kazuki manages to pack in an enormous amount of atmosphere.

Some of his works are actually quite violent with the use of weaponry and figures pleading for their lives. Sections of limbs missing, possibly a method to avert the eye to key components of the art, a solid figure would have a completely different effect but this use of the negative space allows the viewer to take in more detail.

Certainly visit the website. It's all in Japanese but his gallery is worth a look...or two.

http://kazukitakamatsu.web.fc2.com

Heart of Design

If you're a lover of architecture set your eyes on this beauty!

It is in fact the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and this is the new section completed back in March this year by CPG Consultants.

The roof is covered with green turf to blend in with the environment and act as a recreational area, much like we use the grassy areas in our own university or Hyde Park for instance. The roof is so unique, it flows elegantly down to ground level making easy access and putting to use the space available.

Technically revolutionary as the turf insulates the building, collecting rainwater to irrigate

itself and the surrounding landscape and what's more is that the the glass facade provides an astonishing amount of daylight for studios and lecture theatres whilst simultaneiousy cutting off the heat.

As an outer structure the curves create a form similar to that of an atrium in the heart forming the concept that this design building is the heart of the university.

The Mouse is Mightier Than The Pencil...?

--->>View the film here <<---

The subject matter of my dissertation revolves

quite heavily around the use of computers within the school environment, specifically primary.

It’s quite extraordinary how far school’s have developed in the way of introducing technology to aid and progress the potential of these kids.

As I recall my primary school experience, there was one computer between three or four classrooms. Now the incorporation of Nintendo DS, state of the art digital cameras and Macs in the curriculum, which you’ll see in the video, are becoming a staple part of primary school life and transforming education completely.
For the better is debatable, but certainly the Shropshire school kids have benefitted enormously and really prepared and given them a head start for secondary school.

So. Is this the end of jotter books and poster paints…?

What is stressed by the headteacher Mr A. Davis, is the word balance. Allowing the children to use traditional media in lower primary and in a sense weaning them away as they approach key stage 2. My own opinion and that of the research I’ve been carrying out is that traditional media and technology should be taught hand in hand and that one should not eliminate the other. It’s impressive to have the facilities to take advantage of technology yet I feel it’s still necessary to incorporate traditional media, e.g. scanning a hand-drawn image and finalising it on the computer.

Environmentally friendly…

Certainly eliminates the necessity to use paper for writing etc which is a huge plus, however it also removes the hands on portfolio that you build up over your school life. Yes it’s available on a CD, yet can you imagine at the age of 19/20 finding your hidden year 5 art projects on a CD? You can’t flick through the pages, you have to take the laborious task of cleaning the disk and then slapping it in an available computer only to find that the disk is scratched…or unreadable for whatever reason.

It’s a tricky concept to grasp being an 80’s baby and all, I can’t imagine that my year 4 Lowry sketches would have the same visual effect computer drawn. This is art, where shading and texture are necessary in a sketch. The same effect cannot be duplicated on a computer, it can be closely emulated using wireframes, shading etc but it’s still a 2D creation. There’s no charcoal smell or pencil scratching sound, the sense you have is purely visual which is the basis for my reasoning that computers cannot replace traditional methods and a balance should exist within primary school education.

Not every school has these facilities…

Which disrupts development across the board. This is perhaps irrelevant to my argument, but needs to be said that all schools should have access to the same facilities for equality’s sake.

Your job…

This is always the case. Our generation have made the older generations really knuckle down and advance from their initial traditional methods to computer based production in order to sustain their career role. This is the age we live in where technology is constantly improving and as a result we have to keep on jogging to stay in the loop.

The primary education curriculum incorporating ICT to such an advanced stage, to me, is quite scary. These kids are utilizing the equipment and producing work to a standard I could quite confidently say wasn’t expected in my year 11; Granted it was at least 5 years ago, yet still a massive leap.

When these children are leaving university, pursuing a career in graphic design, web development, copy-writing, whatever it is that you do…better keep on your toes as they are going to be hot to trot.

In-B-Flat

This is a great idea and works really well.

Check it out here or by clicking on the image above.

What I really love about it is that it really enforces the capabilities of online expression; a community, bringing together an accumulation of different outputs which result in harmony. It's about being part of something collaborative, and you the user are able to control it.

The fantastic Kutiman Thru-You created something similar, different but along the same lines.

Great Lies to Tell Small Kids

Absolutely adore the Andy Riley 'Bunny Suicide' books - I even have the postcard boxset!
A year ago I was given his newest edition titled 'Great Lies to Tell Small Kids' and ridiculously enough it has been sat sandwiched between Philip Pullmans' 'Northern Lights' and a Tim Burton biography ever since. Tragic I know.
After a quick dusting, low and behold the magic of his illustrations was uncovered and I haven't been able to put it down.

What I didn't know was that Andy Riley has contributed to some fantastic television series; 'Smack The Pony', 'Black Books', 'Trigger Happy TV' and 'Spitting Image'.

It's dark humour at its best. Those of you who won't enjoy it or understand the concept, you'll have to excuse my twisted humour.

I can't help but express giddy excitement when showing someone the sketches as I wait in anticipation for their response; Good or bad - The response will always be priceless.

Be sure to check out his website: here

Social Media Perspective

Returning to familiar ground, previously seen in Munckin-Factory's initial post; Social Media For Social Good, here are a few interesting facts to dip in to your coffee this bright yet very cloudy Monday Morning.

Firstly the official definition of 'social media' is "an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio" - Wikipedia.

In other words, it's a way to describe the billions of conversation that people are having online every day.

The Facts*

• 13 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute
• 100,000,000 YouTube videos viewed every day
• 13,000,000 - the number of articles on Wikipedia
• 3,600,000,000 photos archives on Flickr.com as of June 2009. Roughly one photo per every two people on the planet!
• 3,000,000 Tweets per day on Twitter
• 1382% - the monthly growth rate of Twitter users from Jan-Feb 2009
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the 8th most populated in the world - just ahead of Japan.

*Facts acquired via a Design Week supplement.

Product trickery

So there I am carrying out the weekly shop at Sainsbury's, perusing through the spice section in search of ground cinnamon that will be joining an array of ingredients later on that day - baking session. Debating whether to purchase the well known Schwartz brand, or indeed Sainsbury's own make.

Sainsbury's Ground Cinnamon: £0.79/unit......£0.17/10g

Schwartz Ground Cinnamon: £1.40/unit..........£0.42/10g

It was at this pinnacle point in the short story that a lady working in this section approached me and brashly stated - 'I used to work at the Schwartz factory and the spice in that Schwartz bottle is the same as the spice in that Sainsbury's bottle. They're identical. Schwartz handle Sainsbury's spices, they just slap on a different label and charge less.'.......I made a hmmming sound......'So buy Sainsbury's' she continued.

How has this become morally allowed...charging someone far more...just for a label? Fashion. Computers. Food. It exists in everything. Such greed.

The more I witness branding in this context, the more I dislike it. Branding to manipulate people in to forking out extortionate prices for an item of the same calibre less than half the price sitting right next to it.

I wonder if the fat-cats sitting in their watchtowers snigger down on our capitalist society, rubbing their hands together and planning their next move in an almost Mr Burns from the Simpsons type manner.