Born into a samurai family, Takahashi Yuichi (1828-1894) is a descendent of the Hotta Clan. Historical Japanese customs promote calligraphy and painting as indications of class and learning, so when Takahashi became interested in art at an early age, he was sent to the notorious Kanō school to study.
Among Takahashi’s accomplishments are attending the Paris World Exhibition of 1867 and portrait of the Emperor Meiji. He taught at the newly established Kobubijutsu Gakkō (the Technical Fine Arts School), and is considered one of the first painters to adopt oil paints in Japan.
His work exhibits some of the raw simplicity emphasized by the Zen Buddhism philosophy. I enjoy the confident bold strokes, slightly messy (dare I say) lines, and astoundingly plain yet diverse backgrounds.
José Parlá is an artist. He’s a painter with a vision, deep history of roots art, a new age sculptor, and most definitely an abstractionist.
His work has appeared around the world in exhibitions in London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Paris.
José works with lines that stretch out from the edge of space, swirling around amidst chaos and frequency.
He studied painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, and The New World School of the Arts in Miami, and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
When first observing what Minjae Lee does, you think wow. Then you look further into it, and think even more wow. This is what Minjae does.
If you go to Minjae’s website, and look at the about page, you can see a variety of pens, and I highly suspect there is also watercolor there on the originals. So, clearly Minjae is using mixed media. It also looks like it’s done on watercolor paper and who knows what else. Maybe coffee stains?! Continue Reading →
Searching through Curioos artist Januz Miralles, who also goes by Nuestra was found.
His work is jaw dropping. It’s mostly done in black and white, with scenes of persons mixed with the smears of distortion or destruction. It really reminds us of our other friend Jaybo Monk’s work we’ve profiled a few times.
Blakbird | Photo source: nuestra.tumblr.com
unyo | Photo source: nuestra.tumblr.com
His work touches on life and death. On inanimate and animated beings. It explores the imaginable, as well as the fantasy. Mixing this with wrinkles and drips, and thick brush strokes, this art becomes real, really quick.
Photo source: nuestra.tumblr.com
increpe | Photo source: nuestra.tumblr.com
increpe_ | Photo source: nuestra.tumblr.com
From the best of what we can tell, Miralles uses a combination of acrylic painting on paper or canvas which he then scans and combines with photo manipulation to get some of the images he’s looking for. Something like this would be very beautiful to see a live example of, hoping it wasn’t just a print.
Non-return | Photo source: nuestra.tumblr.com
Pet | Photo source: nuestra.tumblr.com
Q | Photo source: nuestra.tumblr.com
Untitled 012 | Photo source: nuestra.tumblr.com
We look forward to any future work by this artist, and you can bet we’ll be keeping a close eye on it. Sometimes you see an artist’s work and you realize how solid an image they have made for themselves, and you really wonder where they will go from there. That’s what we see here.
Photo source: The Tallest Man On Earth | www.thetallestmanonearth.com
Swedish born Kristian Matsson is truly a folk singer. His lyrics are mesmerizing, his voice is capturing, and his guitar styles make all memories flow forth fluidly. Kristian Matsson is known to music fans as The Tallest Man On Earth.
In 2008 The Tallest Man On Earth released his first full length album Shallow Grave, which is packed with finger picking that will make the best of them stop and take note. Since then, he hasn’t stopped.
Photo source: The Tallest Man On Earth | www.thetallestmanonearth.com
The Tallest Man On Earth really gives one a feeling they just dropped back into the 60’s folk music scene. Really eerily, Matsson sounds like Dylan. Being a huge fan of Dylan, I am now a huge fan of The Tallest Man On Earth.
Photo source: The Tallest Man On Earth | www.thetallestmanonearth.com
Stunning finger picking, great lyrics, melodic voice with that raspy edge to it, and.. AND LYRICS!
This entire article could just read just as song lyrics. In fact, that is what it shall read like.
Shallow Grave
Come see the ripples on the water
As I throw pebbles in the pond
To let the sky go past its surface
Empty my pockets filled with stones
My pockets filled with stones
Come see the sadness of the sailor
As I will scratch his deep blue floor
Already in my years of bad luck
Oh, I broke his mirror long before
Oh when I dive into the water
I’ve raised the bottom to be saved
It’s just a shallow grave
I found the darkness in my neighbor
I found the fire in the frost
I found the season once claimed healthy
Oh, I need the guidance of the lost
But when I dive into the water
I’ve raised the bottom to be saved
It’s just a shallow grave
‘Cause when I dive into the water
I’ve raised the bottom to be saved
It’s just a shallow grave
It’s just a shallow grave
Photo source: The Tallest Man On Earth | www.thetallestmanonearth.com
Honey Won’t You Let Me In
Now the snow will fall and the lover’s call
Will be drenched out by the shatterin’ of verse
As the seasoned shifts lonely minds will drift
On the ocean in a build above its lore
As I knock your door from inside once more
How I wish a soothin’ breeze would let me in
Shake my tambourine at your glowing dreams
So honey won’t you let me in, oh
As we cease to know where our fate will go
We won’t see the rivers tied up in the vines
Branches will untie every mumblin’ lie
Every frayed word in your lullaby is heard
Oh when I catch the ? of our ?
How I wish the turning sunset could record
Blow my engine steam at your glowin’ dreams
So honey won’t you let me in, oh
Now the dust will rise, dress the olden skies
Just a gallery of words we’ve used much
It’s a ? but what if it’s too late
To be building up our muscles in ?
Put me on the mornin’ ship and I will take the trip
To return with all the treasures of the past
It will always seem like a glowin’ dream
So honey won’t you let me in
I said honey won’t you let me in, oh
Honestly, this man is already a legend in my books. What do you think of him?
Reading further in to The Tallest Man On Earth, he is notorious for recording his albums with a portable recorder, wherever he is. Recording vocals and guitar at the same time. When one listens to the recordings on the albums, you can hear this, but to be honest, it fits right in. There is no loss in quality, in fact, there is more attitude given to the songs. It’s a great style. It’s a smart choice by Matsson.
The Tallest Man On Earth has three albums out.
Shallow Grave – 2008
The Wild Hung – 2010
There’s no Leaving Now – 2012
We here at COT surely hope that The Tallest Man On Earth doesn’t stop any time soon making this beautiful music. We support him.
Portrait photography has been around since the beginning of photography. Photographers like Arnold Newman, Robert Mapplethorp, Robert Frank, Art Kane, etc. have been legendary and ground breaking photographers that have altered what was perceived a portrait, escaping from the norm.
To become unique in the art of the portrait photograph is indeed something that is as defining as ones own face, an art that has changes with such subtle nuances that help solidify it’s uniqueness.
Carlo Calope‘s photography explores this precious line of portrait photography with his delicate touch he puts on each and every image. The colors used in each series’ seems to match perfectly with the model used and the location chosen, but that’s aside from his portrait work. His portrait work seems to reach into the depths of a soul, pulling out character and features in such a way that allows for the viewer to understand.
The following photographs are taken from Calope’s series Portraits Section I and Le Mannequin, simply to show more of his work.
A man known to most of the readers of Chronicles of Times [see previous reviews here and here] , Jaybo has been documented by the filmmaker Rogier Postma in one of the most revealing, inspiring, and beautiful pieces of film I have watched. I promise you it’s worth watching.
Jaybo Monk is a man whom you meet and never forget. His honesty and sincerity is what makes his art so pure, so essential.
There have been many late nights where I’ve debated the purpose of art with him; Jaybo always has the romantic stance that art should be created to express what must be expressed. Everything is just secondary.
It’s easy to see this in his work. It’s also easy to see into his minds eye with his work.
Recently, on 16.08.2012 Jaybo created some of the most extraordinary pieces of art I’ve had the pleasure to look at for a solo show at Rook & Raven Gallery / London. They explore white space and shapes with an emphasis on the olympics.I perticularily love how he manages to create a surreal exposé of the lustful imagination mixed with wild beasts… and the muscle structure.
This started off as a search for a black and white dress, an elegant dress, one that is fit for beauty queens shimmering through the night with long black silk gloves on sipping from champagne glasses with perfect lipstick impressions planted confidently along the edge of the nights caress.
Then I found Kendra Spears photographed by Claudia Knoepfel and Stefan Indlekofer for Vogue Paris, May 2012 and I had to look no further; immediately enchanted I was and whisked off to a romance I had only to don my black rimmed Ray-Bans and pilot my Rolls Royce and precious cargo to the evenings gala.
