tsukinomitogachi

[tsukinomitogachi]

Vladimir Tatlin,  Russian and Soviet painter, architect and stage-designer.

With Kazimir Malevich he was one of the two most important figures in the Soviet avant-garde art movement of the 1920s, and he later became an important artist in the Constructivist movement.

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@動脈都市

田中豪 Tanaka  Suguru

Japanese illustrator,

The use of grim red and shade illustrated the places and things that appeared in my dreams. It is magical that how identical they are comparing what has shown in my head made me start believing the collective unconscious's existence.

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Aleksander Rostov, Estonian

Oil painter. Art director and Game Designer at ZA/UM. One of the leads on Disco Elysium. One of the creator of the game that amazes very much in 2020.

A leftist ( I presume ), who fights against the social symbolic system, despite the moralism.

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At the beginning of the second thousand years, internet development has been advanced to another level. The fascinating technology amplified the imagination of content creators. Unlike the golden age of science-fiction, the artworks were usually pessimistic. The cyber-world was an abstract space where everybody projects their shadow into its subconscious world. On the picture, or you could say a digital artwork that I've chosen, it is one of those fascinating animations of that time. On the first view, it is a girl leaning on the wired fence, the powerline crosses over her head, and the giant falling moon makes the viewer feel immense pressure, and the gaze of that girl-Lain is so soulless that it adds another weird feeling. The meaning of it is far beyond how it portraited, and I will focus on the key sign that I assume, which is the wired fence that she is holding. What does a wired fence present, it is a wall can divide a space into two separate room since it is not a solid concrete wall so we can see through from the other side. The knots of iron wire held together very messily signified a complicated connection of the world we might have in the cyber area. And the girl is holding the knot, add another more profound meaning; she is the connection of two different worlds and the avatar of cyber-god. The two worlds are separate, the real world and the subconscious space, and the fence is the Internet. Internet connects each other not in an organized way but a cluster of chaos. A wall is a sign for the human that we evolved from nomad into sedentary. The wall of Jericho is a well-known story for all of us, especially in the Christian world. A fence is a thing that could protect the people inside, but in the image, it contains another significant meaning of it, the thing you couldn't cross. The fence is the signifier, the purpose behind it is the signified, and when they are combined, it becomes a sign that stands for a limbo of literal world and a deeper field. If we interpret it from today's perspective, it might be hard to absorb the information or its meaning. But if you are acknowledged about the second millennium's socio context, it will become very efficient and straightforward. In the last century, the rebel against classical science and Newton-like physics reached a peak. And many mysterious things and technological assumptions were unveiled, such as MJ-12, the Roswell UFO incident, Vannevar Bush and his MEMEX, John C Lily and his subconscious work, and so on, which affect the younger generation's mind ideologically, let us skeptically embrace the mighty future that we could have, but since the Internet developed far beyond what they have could be imagined, and the thought has died very quickly.

Yoshitoshi, ABe(Character design). Serial experiment Lain. Tokyo, Triangle staff, 1998.

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Chromatsu, probably the most famous monkey on earth in late 20th century. An advertisement starring by him for Sony's newest generation Walkman had appeared to customer's view. A meditating monkey while listening to music from a Sony Walkman, and eventually won the best commercial in 1988 . So successful and it basically convinced everybody to own a Walkman. A monkey standing in front of a yellow background, holding a Walkman. The blackness of the device perfectly fit the yellow with harmony. On the other hand, a central composition locks the viewer's eyes on the animal. The big Sony Logo and other cooperative company logos has been showed on the white frame and displayed with different black font. Few lines of introduction of the product placed at the bottom to tell customers the specs. The white frame is a great movement by them because it limits our view to keep the attention on the image, the yellow background has nothing to take our attention away is a beautiful use of negative spac e. And the iconic SONY logo on the top-left corner of the page, continuously engrave the message to our head.

 Does the AD itself has a clear message to convey? In my perspective, yes. A monkey enjoying music with Sony Walkman; the image shows the message. Decoding it by spectator's mind, “Sony Walkman=Good Music.” It can be a dominant -hegemonic reading or a negotiated reading. The multinational uses the cultural hegemonic domination to let the audience interpret the message immediately as "The Sony Walkman provide good music." It applies the common sense, which was shaped by the dominant group, that when somebody close their eye peacefully means they are having a good time of wellness. But it is very hard for everybody under the mass media and popular culture to receive the message immediately without questioning it, because not every people have the experience or knowledge that the information it requires to have, so I put it in the middle of dominant-hegemonic reading and negotiated reading. But why a monkey? It is also because the common sense of the monkey is the closest family of humankind, s o the company keep doing the trick to convince the audience to believe in their propose, that is why in that time, Chromatsu the monkey performed in several advertisement, and it was remarkable marketing success.

 Did it convey the message effectively? In my opinion, it is a bloody yes. In 1988, everybody was convinced to purchase a Walkman. But it is also a little bit tricky because between 1986 and 1991 is the famous period of Japanese asset price bubble, so the citizens have the extra money to buy they want. But even in 1988 China, when the economy was just getting a little bit better under the policy of the communist regime. My parents who were not very wealthy purchased one, considered as the symbol of identity that they were the coolest young pioneer. I did a short interview with them that about have they watched the Sony monkey advertisement back in the days. And unsurprisingly they responded yes. They said they were amazed by the Ad, how well structured it was and how creative have it been.

 After all, I personally like the cultural meaning of the multinational manipulate people’s mind. It is cool isn’t it? Imagine if we can one day live in the cyberpunk world, I swear I am having goose bumps.

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Two Japanese kids both holding a sling shot, aiming at the camera and prepared to shoot. Damaged building and piled up junk at behind told us what happened at that period. One of the most classic photography from Nobuyoshi Araki in his first photobookさっちん, also known as the beginning of the genius Araki.

Araki balance the photo with symmetrical composition, shot in a lower angle generate the sense of strength and dynamic. Two kids stand directly in front of the camera, takes a very big part of the whole figure, catches viewer’s attention, lock their view at beginning. The building and the sky are the negative space of the picture, both very clean and simple to make sure they will not steal the scene that Araki trying to set, also create a space in between that gives us the feeling of depth. The building is combined with rectangle and pentahedron, transmit the information of its length width and depth. We do not see the light source from the photo, but the shadow shows us that the sun is right above them right now, young kids playing under the sun symbolize the vision of hope about Japan’s future and an incredible energy was given.

20 years ago, avatars of death descended on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And 20 years after, Japan is right at the golden age of economy, the living standard of Japanese citizen increased so much, automobile, fridge, television were popularized. From unrest to peace, from poverty to richness, I perceived the message that Araki trying to convey, it is not only two naughty children stand in front of camera, it is the hope, the future, the successor of humanity.

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花火 from Rinko Kawauchi, one of the most famous female photographer in Japan. Rising firework blows in the middle of a starry night, crowded terrace convey the life energy and hope to the future. Firework blossoms in 3 dimensional shape, reviewed as a 2 dimensional pattern, light up the night shimmer after it runs off it last breath.