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.
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