Ryu Itadani: A World in Colors

29 Dec 2008

A very colorful "Forest," drawn by Japanese artist Ryu Itadani.

Many of you have probably already finished work for the year and had your bonenkai, and now you’re getting ready for a big cleaning day and the celebrations for the new year. And yes, this is the last article from PingMag for 2008. Today’s guest is a Japanese artist, Ryu Itadani. Even if you’ve never heard of his name, chances are you’ve seen his beautiful work for Omotesando Hills. So let’s have a look at some of his amazing work and celebrate the end of 2008! Kanpai!

Written by Chiemi

Could you please introduce yourself?

My name is Ryu Itadani, born in Osaka, in 1974. I’m based in Tokyo now. My work features free hand lines that I draw using an original point of view, and a particular sense of colors. So far, I’ve done artwork for, among other things, Omotesando Hills for their 1st anniversary, and illustrations for the Asahi Shimbun, where I’ve presented my city series and things series.

“J-WAVE,” a piece for the Japanese FM radio station.

How was 2008 for you?

I challenged myself by using acrylics this year. It’s such great fun and a thing worth doing to draw with a new medium.

A slice of “Ginza.”

Lego blocks on the move in “Lego City.”

What is your resolution and plan for the new year?

I’m thinking of drawing bigger sized works. I’m also planning to have a solo exhibition at Marunouchi Gallery in Tokyo.

“Red Flowers,” for the American magazine “Dwell.”

Jen Stark: Kaleidoscopic Paper Eruptions

"Burst" by Jen Stark, demonstrating a powerful eruptive force with just stacks of cardboard! Photo by Harlan Erskine.

Look at these intriguing, repetitive shapes like eruptions by Miami-based Jen Stark: Her three-dimensional, kaleidoscopic paper art is simply hand-made with dozens of layers of thick coloured paper. With her abstract geometrical patterns just shown in the new Tactile book by DGV, PingMag feeds you an interview with the artist about the quality of cardboard.

Written by Verena

Two-dimensional circles jumping out of the frame: Detail of “Production Line: Triangle, Circle, Square.” Photo by Harlan Erskine.

When did you start with your… can I call it kaleidoscope paper art?

I began making paper sculptures when I went to study in France for a semester. Since I could only take two suitcases with me for five months, I decided to purchase art supplies when I got there. The Euro was high and everything was pretty expensive, so I decided to get the cheapest but coolest looking thing in the art store – a stack of construction paper! I started experimenting with what paper could turn into and it took off from there.

The tendency of any body on the Earth’s surface to drift to the side due to the planet’s rotation is called the “Coriolis Effect.” Here, we see paper drifting to many sides, by Jen Stark. Photo by Harlan Erskine.

What makes paper so fascinating to work with?

I like the fact that it is so common and usually used two-dimensionally… and I’m trying to show what it can do sculpturally and how much it can be transformed with such little changes. Also I love all the colours it comes in!

Awesome! “Piece of an infinite hole.” Photo by Harlan Erskine.

And the same hole - with a depth of 4 ft and a diameter of 2 ft. Photo by Harlan Erskine.

What exactly do you use?

Usually card stock, non-fade and acid free.

Does it have to have a certain quality to be rigid enough, such as for your marvellous “Primaries” series?

It is better for it to be pretty rigid for more sturdiness and this will also help it last longer.

Intricate paper works resembling three-dimensional objects: “Primaries: Red,” by Jen Stark.

Roughly how many layers goes into one piece?

It can range from about thirty to eighty, depending on the piece.

And how do you choose the order of the colours in the stack?

I usually buy a stack and then arrange it how I think the colours look good together. I try to spread them out a bit so they are mixed up and contrasting colours are next to each other.

“Peepholes” Photo by Harlan Erskine.

… and the awesome, illuminated “View Inside Peephole #1.” Photo by Harlan Erskine.

The Mandala-style “Untitled.” Photo by Harlan Erskine.

When you pick the colours, do you just grab everything in the store?

I get the “Assortment Pack” and use all these colours it comes with. I haven’t used black very much because the colourful packs I buy don’t usually have it. But I just got a bunch of black papers separately so I can use them now.

About the mysterious “Untitled:” Is it inspired by kind of aMandala? How do you develop it?

It is mainly inspired by geometric patterns. I just cut a shape and slowly change it as the layers progress. With these kind of sculptures I usually don’t know what the end design will look like.

Resembling geographic depictions of differences in altitude: “Microscopic Entry.” Trippy!

Do you have a certain method of cutting? For example, how did you achieve these multiple layers in “Anatomical Evolution”?

I cut each layer of paper one by one and then put them together. I always cut by hand using an X-Acto knife. It is a bit time-consuming, but I like it!

Detail of “Assorted Explosion:” imagine how long these most delicate cuts might have taken… Photo by Harlan Erskine.

About your lovely eruptive “Assorted Explosion:” Is it meant to depict an explosion in its early stage?

Exactly! Usually, stacks of construction paper are sold in “assortments” of colour. So, I wanted to play with that word as well as what it looks like it’s doing: exploding. A very colourful kind of explosion and there may be many paper cuts.

A metaphor for people’s multiple inside layers… “Cylinder: Paper Cut.” Photo by Harlan Erskine.

A beautiful “Mold Study.” Photo by Harlan Erskine.

The “Cylinder: Paper Cut” with a solid surface that’s cut open caught my eye: Could we see the paper layers as a symbolic representation of the inner layers of people, or objects…?

Definitely. You are one of the first people to mention this. I like to make the insides very colourfully confusing. You can relate it to people or things being so complicated and elaborate on the inside. Yet the outside layer is usually white to show that something may look simple and ordinary on the outside – but the inside is beaming with colour!

An inside showing a colourful spectrum indeed…

Yes, and it can also be a metaphor on how intricate and colourful people are, both physically and emotionally. There is a lot more to what is inside than what you see. And the paper sculptures give a little window to look into…

See it move! Stop-motion animation “Papermation” from 2007.

Multiple layers as metaphor for the many layers a personality may have… How poetic cardboard can be! So, apart from your paper explosions, what inspired your beautiful, fragile paper leaves as silhouettes?

I live in Miami, Florida, and these leaves came off of trees from my parent’s backyard. They are called sea-grape trees because the trees produce grape-looking berries. I was searching for something to cut into and I decided to try a leaf because it is pretty thick and strong. I was inspired by how leaves can naturally turn into skeletons over time– losing the green part and keeping only the veins. I wanted to simulate this with my X-Acto.

Posters

Digital Art “Cubism”

What is Cubism?

In 20^th century “Cubism” art movement was the most influential and to the European (1907-1914). The Cubism was began by two famous artist Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, they were inspired by an African Sculpture made by a Fauvism artist (art movement in French) known as Paul Cézanne and Georges Seurat. “Cubism” can be define as the change viewing of a subject into fixed angle which the subject was broken up into many pieces and had been reassemble in to an abstracted form. This presented the new style of reality painting, which change several aspect of the subject to be shown differently. There are many art movement that was influenced by the Cubism which are Futurism, Ophism, Precisionism, Constructivism, Purism, and Expressionism.There are three phase that is a development of Cubism which is Facet Cubism , Analytic Cubism and Synthetic Cubism.

Facet Cubism : Object had a different point of view or perspective illusion. Using the dramatic conflict of the patterns, lights, and textures.

Analytic Cubism : Using the natural form of the subject to reduce to its basic shape then reconcile essentially in three dimensional part with two dimensional picture plane. The color was subdued making the painting close to a monochrome (one tone color).

Synthetic Cubism : Had been evolute from the Analytic Cubism. It is an artwork that was use for decorative, appealing and can be use to decoration in household. (Famous one liked Picasso “Guitar and Violin”)

Example of Cubism Art?

Gris, Juan. Violin and Glass. 1915. Oil on canvas. Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University. (Right painting)

Klee, Paul. Dream City. 1921. Water Paint and Oil. Private collection, Turnin. (Left Painting)

Villon, Raymond Duchamp. The large Horse. Bronze 150 x 97 x 153 cm .Georges Pompidou Center, Paris. (Left)

Gleizes, Albert. Portrait of Jacques Nayral. 1911. Oil on Canvas 161.9 x 114.0 cm .Tate Gallery, London. (Right)

Digital art project

Our new unit digital art, we were assign to create a cubism art style using photography we taken at least 16 picture per one art work and we needed to connected them like jigsaw using the gimp program. The artist we study on to create the art similar to him is “David Hockney” the artist who use photography to create a cubism art style. David Hockney work on the art style called “Photocollage” which he take a image with Polaroid camera and connected them together like a jigsaw picture, his aim was to discuss the way human vision works.

Hockney, David. Paint Trolley. 1985. photographic collage 41×61 in.

My Work

The bear is the first picture I did which is a bear that I have put them together in to one picture, the bear picture worked will because its not overlapping with each other and its only one subject in the picture. On the second picture I change the contrast of the picture with the brightness and the darkness of the picture for it to be separate into many picture. On the third picture I had use the burn tool to make the edge being separate from each other which this make the picture looked more cubism, I think this picture is a good one because there were no overlapping and it looked cubism style also there are 16 picture too!

My second picture was taken in the school it was the playground its my second try picture but its had only about 5 pictures which I couldn’t use it for the final, in this one I think that the picture is to overlapping to much. The first picture is the one that I didn’t change the brightness and the darkness yet, the second I already change them but I didn’t use the burn tool in this one because of its color the burn tool doesn’t work

My third picture was the picture of my K-Pop collection, which in this picture its a mistake becauseI have the picture too overlapped with each other that looked weird but in this picture I did the background which makethe overlapped problem was harder to be seen and the background pulled peoples attention more.

My fourth picture was a taken with the subject of lollipop. Lollipop was one of my favorite candy and it had a bright color which I think it would bring out the subject more. First I think that this picture is not going to work because the picture was overlapping with each other, also this picture is hard to connect with each other at first because it looked to similar to each other. After putting them together I change the contrast of the picture with its brightness and darkness then I use the burn tools. After using the burn tool I found that the picture looked more cubism. I tied to change the background.

My final picture is the picture that I submit to be printed out as a A3 picture sizes. This picture I consider as the hardest picture to be taken because I took the photo of the whole tree at the park my village, which I need to took this picture first by sitting down then started to stand up and then I reach out to the top view as highest as I can so its really hard to be taken. At first I didn’t think that this picture would work, but when I started to put the picture together I found out that its work together well. Then I edit this picture by using the burn tool to burn the edge of the picture so that it can be separate from each other and I rotate some picture to make them fit together, but the picture still looked like the same whole image so I change the contrast color of the brightness and the darkness. But still I don’t like to green grass color at the bottom so I need to make it very dark, from Nearn suggestion I make the contrast more clearly making the dark blue color on the sky which given a cartoonish style. This picture work well because it had the meaning off growth and also I think that its the best picture that I had made in this unit. Next time if I have more time I wanted to improve on the middle part because the color of the sky doesn’t match with the top part which make the picture looked least interesting. There were 18 picture in this cubism but I think I should take some out because its unnecessary and shown only a little bit in the final product.

Worked cite (where the information come from)

“Cubism - Styles & Movements - Art in the Picture.com.” Art in the Picture.com - An Introduction to Art History. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://www.artinthepicture.com/styles/Cubism/>.

“Cubism - the First Abstract Style of Modern Art.” Free Art Lessons - Learn How to Draw, Paint and Design. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/cubism.htm>.

“ArtLex on Cubism.” ArtLex Art Dictionary. Web. 3 Dec. 2010. <http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/c/cubism.html>.

“Cubism.” Arteest.org - Beverly Sunrise. Web. 3 Dec. 2010. <http://arteest.org/cubism.htm>.

“David Hockney.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 16 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hockney>.

Original Straw Poster Design

American Gothic

Nan Wood and Byron McKeeby – the artist’s sister and dentist respectively – pose next to Grant Wood’s painting, American Gothic(1930), in which their likenesses were used.

ArtHistoryGrant WoodAmerican Gothic