Animalarium

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Sunday Safari - Sleepyheads

Emma & Tina on the duvet

Today the sun was out and we went for a beautiful walk by the river, but otherwise I have been mostly

chilling in the wind and the rain or staying indoors. The most pleasurable moments are usually in the evenings,

when we all snuggle up in bed for hours with our winter stash of chocolates, books, tea, music and movies.

I wish safe, cozy and warm winter nights to all you sleepy creatures out there, under the blankets or the stars.

...then sleep by Rilla Alezander

Elephant bed and Tiger bed by animalsleepstories

Cover and illustration from Off to bed by Maud and Miska Petersham, 1954, thanks to Art.crazed

Sleeping snow leopard by Diana Sudyka

The tabby one and The ginger one by Celia Hart

John Vanderslice & Saint Vincent music poster by Leia Bell

Illustration from Miss Suzy by Arnold Lobel, 1964,

from Estelle and Ivy's 1960's illustrations flickr collection

Spread from Wesole odwiedziny by Bohdan Wroblewski, thanks to hipopotamstudio

Illustration by Garth Williams for Mister dog by Margaret Wise Brown

Photo from de slaapzaal series by Karin Nussbaumer

Giraffe sleeping limited edition print by Guido Pigni

A shelter by Stasys Eidrigevicious, thanks to A Journey Round My Skull

Illustration from My little animal friends of the forest by Romain Simon,

from Flamenconut's wonderful Beast Feast flickr set

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Reflections on Japanese Playing Cards

Illustration, 1977

"Artists of my generation tend to try things that are beyond their genres.

A crossbreeding of different styles results and distinctions among different art forms

become blurred. Artists often feel that they can leap into different genres and explore

an unknown world. If we take fine art and graphic design more openly, a theatrical space

is also an artistic space. But in today's age of specialization, it might be only us,

the "WWⅡ generation" who started from a wide stretch of burned ruins,

that have this conception about artistic styles." Kiyoshi Awazu

Hokusai patterns and awazu colors, 1981

On April 29th last year, Kiyoshi Awazu died of pneumonia in Kawasaki, Japan

at the age of 80. A self taught painter and graphic designer, Awazu was a man full

of curiosity and imagination. Born in Tokyo, he started working at 12, and soon

became interested in Christianity, philosophy, communism and western cinema.

At 18 he started to teach himself drawing by copying from old art magazines and sketching

fellow commuters on the train to work. At 21 he started working in the animation field

making rough sketches, and at 25 had his first opportunity to design a poster,

commissioned by a theater group. He went on to become a famous multifaceted

graphic designer and artist involved in book design, illustration, printmaking, painting,

sculpture, exhibition and urban design, playwriting, film production and art direction.

Awazu also wrote extensively on design and fine art. In 1981 he was the art director
of the fantastic "Great Japan Exhibition" at The Royal Academy of Arts in London.
In the same year he held the "Kiyoshi Awazu One Man Show-Printed Works" at
50 Earlham St. Gallery in London, and produced a series of 12 wood cut prints inspired
by traditional art forms titled "Reflections on Japanese Playing Cards".
All the information and card pictures come from the well designed and extensive
Kiyoshi Awazu website, where you can learn and see a lot more of this wonderful artist.

January

February

June

July

October

November

And if you haven't seen them already, check out the posts featuring Awazu's more

wildly experimental artworks at A Journey Round my Skull's and But it Does Float.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Little creatures in a big world

Children

I am very fond of Chiho Makino's tenderly sad pastel artworks, and have posted some of them in various Safaris. The mysterious charm of her surreal atmospheres often reminds me of Michael Sowa's works, which I haven't posted here only because I assume that everyone already knows them (please correct me if it isn't so!) Chiho was born in 1965 and graduated in Art and Design at Kyoto Seita University. She specializes in editorial illustrations for books and magazines, and since 1990 has exhibited her artworks in art galleries around Japan. Here are some of the lovely book covers recently uploaded by Chiho on her website.