art
NANA 1st Illustrations _ Ai Yazawa
NANA 1st Illustrations gathers Nana Osaki, Nana Komatsu, Ren Honjo, Nobuo Terashima, Shinichi Okazaki, and Yasushi Takagi not as model sheets but as quiet romances in fabric and metal. Osaki’s black leather and lace feel like vows; her Vivienne Westwood Armour Ring glints like a promise she keeps. Komatsu floats in lighter textiles and soft palettes, a tender blur that finds light even when it trembles. Shinichi moves in bondage pants—wide legs, trailing straps, D-rings and chains—tempered by fitted tanks, layered belts, and combat boots; the strapwork turns his stride into music and cinches him closer when the stage goes still.
Ren and Yasu hold steadier lines—smoke, denim, talismanic hardware—anchors for the others’ weather. Here costume is character: friendship sewn into hems, devotion clasped in studs, defiance stitched in black. A Complete NANA 1st Illustrations book scan is available on the server. A Complete NANA 1st Illustrations book scan is available on the server.
EMERY MOUNTAINS
April 2024, FRIEZE No. 9 Cork Street Gallery, London
EXHIBITION: The Mountains Between Us, FRIEZE No 9 Cork St
Weaving together photography, video and sculptural objects, lena_c_emery highlights the accelerated loss of mountain glaciers and the desperate conservation efforts currently employed to impede their decline. Under the continued influence of greenhouse-gas forced global warming, ice that took centuries to develop is vanishing in just a number of years. A fate experts predict for at least two-thirds of all glaciers by the end of this century. EMERY: In ‘The Mountains Between Us’, I capture the current environmental efforts undertaken to reduce the rate at which glaciers melt. Glaciers have held space for centuries, silently bearing witness to history. They’ve seen the world change in ways we can barely comprehend. Because my grandfather spent his life in these mountains, watching this particular glacier retreat and form lakes where there was previously only ice and at a pace that’s steadily increasing, feels deeply personal. The idea of covering these mammoths in fabric to stall the inevitable, feels both tragic and emblematic of our relationship with nature: The magnitude of loss countered by gestures that, though earnest, feel powerless. Visually these wrapped peaks evoke images of muddied tents, makeshift shelters that we’ve come to erect for those displaced by upheaval. This fragility, their fragility, our fragility, is a direct reflection of the imbalance we have sown, where those least responsible for ecological destruction are forced to bear its heaviest burdens. The title became a way to frame those divides. Mountains have always symbolised barriers, but perhaps they could also be reimagined as thread, shared histories and a collective belonging. The elemental particles composing our very being once danced amidst these ancient landscapes and if they disappear, part of us does too.
Pokras Lampas x Comme des Garçons BLACK AW2019 Campaign Poster Scans
Voice Figures by Margaret Watts Hughes
Made more than 100 years ago by a Welsh singer named Margaret Watts Hughes — not by her hand but rather using her voice and an Eidophone, a “recording” device of her own invention. She would sing into the Eidophone’s funnel and so make its diaphragm vibrate. She’d then bring this vibrating diaphragm in contact with a glass plate covered in pigment to create these wondrous images, akin to visual sound recordings, or what she called Voice Figures (and the more complex Impression Figures).
Dialogue Version, Andrew Basinski
From the spitting image exhibiton curated by Pop Gun and Heart Gallery
Takahashi Murakami for Issey Miyake / Naoki Takizawa ss2000
R. B. Kitaj, Disciple of Bernstein and Kautsky, 1964
Screenprint on paper
Thomas Demand
DPM PEACE CRANE OPERATION
created by urban demographics / original concept by UCCI for droppin' lyrics
In the Age of Hawk vs. Dove, the Crane Rises
Operation Peace Crane is a grassroots project designed to spread the the Origami Peace Crane throughout the physical and cyber world. Since its invention centuries ago, with roots dating back even further, the paper crane has been by far the most popular fold, and has come to symbolize peace around the world. Most notably, thousand-linked cranes are delivered to atomic bomb sites and Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as the need for a nuclear-free, peaceful world becomes more relevant yet.
Normally, origami cranes are folded using colorful origami paper, and traditional patterns. We hereby propose a new movement by spreading the crane with camouflage patterns of military around the world. Using the camouflage on the cranes represents the irony of war and peace that are inherent in our society, as if one cannot exist without the other. Today, we must confront the stark reality that the military complex is a worldwide industry, sponsored by the government (not to mention tax payers), which in turn supports the lifestyles of the unassuming public. We must not forget that we share equal responsibility in the proliferation of arms in the world today . We also understand that the mere presence of military force overseas alarm the foreign citizens and governments, instead of stabilizing politically volatile areas. Upon further introspection into the history of camouflage, its evolution and adaptation of design to the ever-changing political balance is parallel to the way humans have adjusted to the economical needs of the world, only to stray away from values of nature, ironically. It must also be noted that the camouflage patterns used herein do not represent any political messages, except for those calling for immediate and everlasting peace.
Reality is not immutable like a rock, rather it is dynamic like water. Although it may be a strong force, we can shape the future by taking part in it, no matter how small the drop. We sincerely hope that this project, done literally by the hands of the people, would reach the hearts of those who desperately seek peace, as we speak. Lastly, the only way to reach true peace will not come from agitated fear, but from true knowledge and inner peace.
Metal Gear Solid by Yoji Shinkawa
Futura solo show at Magda Danysz Gallery in Paris 2014
Robert Häusser J.R. 5-9-70
Gelatin silver print, printed 1999. 43.5 x 58.8 cm. Signed and dated in ballpoint pen lower right. Signed, dated, titled in ballpoint pen as well as photographer's thumb print on the verso. - Framed under glass.
Tom Sachs, Spiderweb, 2009–2011
Michael Wolf Architecture of Density
One of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the world, Hong Kong has an overall density of nearly 6,700 people per square kilometer. The majority of its citizens live in flats in high-rise buildings, whose units can house as many as 10,000 people.
In Architecture of Density, Michael investigates these enormous city blocks, finding a mesmerizing abstraction in the buildings’ facades. The structures in the series are photographed without reference to the context of sky or ground, and many buildings are seen in a state of repair or construction: their walls covered with a grid of scaffolding or the soft coloured curtains that protect the streets below from falling debris. From a distance, such elements become a part of an intricate design. Upon closer inspection of each photograph, the anonymous public face of the city is full of rewarding detail – public space is private space, large swatches of colour give way to smaller pieces of people’s lives. The trappings of the people are still visible here: their days inform the detail of these buildings. Bits of laundry and hanging plants pepper the tiny rectangles of windows- the only irregularities in this orderly design. The images of Architecture of Density give one an inkling of what our cities could look like if grown continues unchecked.
Akira and the traumatic spectre of nuclear war
Digital Linen Bandana by Outlier
"Wendover II (For John)" by Barry Underwood
Nickel Tailings 34, Edward Burtynsky, 1996
From “Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky”
LOST & FOUND SECTION FROM FRANK GRAFFITI MAG
obviously 5 believers
Teresa Margolles, Frontera, 2011
Teresa Marolles' "Frontera" reflects on the dramatic scale of drug trafficking in Mexican society. The artist has used basic but very striking elements to create the works in "Frontera", and despite their minimalist style, they reveal great emotional depth and tragedy. The works go beyond the specific context that gave rise to them, with a universal value that explores our mechanisms of denial and the taboos still surrounding death and violence in contemporary society. The Museion exhibition features walls where executions took place, that the artist took down in Mexico and rebuilt in Bolzano—Muro Baleado (Culiacán), 2009, and Muro Ciudad Juárez, 2010—along with the works Plancha, 2010 and Cubo, 2010, a minimalist cube weighing a ton made out of iron from reinforced concrete taken from demolished buildings. The Bolzano exhibition will also be the first opportunity to see the filmed action Camiseta, created specially for "Frontera" and shot in the cities of Juarez, Kassel and Bolzano.'
TinyMtn Sculptures
TinyMtn crafts 3D-printed mini sculptures of some of the most storied peaks and valleys in the United States. Whether you want to remember the time you backpacked through Yosemite or peered over the edge of the Grand Canyon, TinyMtn offers a bit of a topographic reminder. Each comes on a small stand with the name, peak, and coordinates displayed, and makes for an ideal piece of art for the adventurer at heart.
Christopher Williams, Cutaway model Zeiss
Christopher Williams, Cutaway model Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/15 ZM / Focal length: 15mm. Aperture range: 2.8 – 22. No. of elements/groups: 11/9 / Focusing range: 0.3 m–infinity. Image ratio at close range: 1:18 / Coverage at close range: 43 cm × 65 cm. Angular field, diag./horiz./vert.: / 110/100/77˚ / Filter: M 72 × 0.75. Weight: 500 g. Length: 86 mm / Product no. black: 30 82016. Serial no.: 15555891. / (Subject to change.) / Manufactured by Carl Zeiss AG, Camera Lens Division, Oberkochen, Germany / Studio Rhein Verlag, Düsseldorf / January 18, 2013 (2013).
Dis-Armor, Krzysztof Wodiczko, 2000
Instrument designed and built in collaboration with members of the Interrogative Design Group, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, MIT: Adam Whiton, Sung Ho Kim, Jerzy Stypułkowski; Japanese team: Mari Ishiko with a group of school psychologists.
Dis-Armor is a psycho-cultural prosthetic device designed as a communications tool for school students. It was directly inspired by the artist’s meeting with alienated, sociopathic Japanese youngsters. The project’s title serves as a reference to the need for “disarming” – for young people encased in a carapace of silence to open up. Resembling a protective suit, the Dis-Armor combines modern technology with Japanese cultural traditions; its overall aesthetic and individual elements were inspired by antique samurai armor. The device features two mini cameras that film the eyes and send the image to two small-size screens at the user’s back. Young people who otherwise avoid direct contact with others can communicate by “looking and speaking with their backs.” Three versions of Dis-Armor were made: a blue one (the earliest); a gold one with an added camera to play back prerecorded statements, with sound-image synchronization, and the option to switch between playback and live broadcasting; and a third one, equipped with a back camera and a small LCD screen replacing the earlier rearview mirror.
