One More Miyazaki Film.

Domenico, via Flickr.

Domenico, via Flickr.

Serial retirer and Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, in a new special that aired yesterday on Japanese television, announced that he is working on a 13th feature-length film. In an interview, the director of Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle says he is “not satisfied” with his first CGI film, a short called Boro the Caterpillar. According to NHK’s film, The Man Who Is Not Done: Hayao Miyazaki, the filmmaker has had a change of heart and submitted a proposal to Studio Ghibli for a feature-length version of the story in August.

[…]

At the end of the special, he proposes the feature Boro, outlining a completion date of 2019, just before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The 76-year-old wonders aloud, “Maybe I’ll be alive?”

Miyazaki will be 78 when the film is finished, and faces the possibility that he might die before then with a signature stoicism. “I think it’s still better to die when you are doing something than dying when you are doing nothing,” he says in another scene. “It’s better to think about not dying when you die.”

The Creators Project has the full story.

WHITE MAN.

White Man. © Marty Two Bulls.

White Man. © Marty Two Bulls.

And from Tiffany Midge, ‘Ars Poetica,’ by Donald J. Trump:

Nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.

~E.E. Cummings

Trust me, I’m a poet.

I have all of the words.

I have the best words.

The most tremendous words.

Bigly. Yuge!

Those other poets are a disaster,

just a disaster.

I’m going to build a wall

around those other poet’s

words, because no one

has more respect for words as me.

I love words, I respect words so much.

I love them so much that I would date

my own words if I wasn’t already

related to them.

I’m going to make poetry great again.

And I’m just the poet to do that too.

When it comes to words—

they’re just so beautiful

I just start kissing them,

and I can do that too,

when you’re a poet they let you do that,

they let you do anything,

I’m on those words like a mystic,

I grab ‘em by the muse.

Words are great, they’re a beautiful thing.

I have the best ones though,

because I’m the best.

I’m a winner, words love me.

I’m yuge.

Cool Stuff Friday.

Candy & Sex! First up, the art of Amezaiku:

Amezaiku is one of the traditional Japanese arts crafts. The candy is softened by heating to around 90 degrees C (almost 200 degrees F), and is finely crafted with bare hands and traditional Japanese scissors. Amezaiku is created by cutting, pulling, and bending candy which is attached at the top of stick.

Amezaiku must be finished within just a few minutes after removing the candy from the pot, due to the characteristic of candy: hardened when cooled and softened when heated. Amezaiku is not crafted by chipping or shaving from a block, as in sculpture.

It is said Amezaiku originated in the 8th century. During the Edo period (17th to 19th centuries), craftsmen showed their making performance on streets to sell to the people, and Amezaiku was a form of entertainment enjoyed by common people.

The technique of Amezaiku has been passed down over generations. However, because Amezaiku is a traditional subculture, there is no literature with detailed descriptions of the processes and skills involved.

You can see and read more of Shinri Tezuka’s amazing work here. Via Great Big Story, and Colossal, here and here.

Next up, rubbers! Specifically, condoms marketed to women, fair trade and free of toxic chemicals. There’s a whole new line of sexual health products called Sustain. Via Great Big Story.

Thijs Biersteker: Plastic Reflectic.

All images courtesy the artist.

All images courtesy the artist.

When plastic material sits in our ocean for long enough it starts to degrade into nano plastics, a type of microplastic material that can traverse cell walls into fat and muscle tissue. This is a dynamic that Dutch designer Thijs Biersteker recently explored in his latest installation Plastic Reflectic, an interactive mirror that uses motion tracking technology to turn the spectator’s reflection into a silhouette made from hundreds pieces of real trash. “Turning us…slowly into plastic,” the artist explains.

Known for his psychedelic cloud installations and cancer punching bags, Biersteker constructed his new project on a horizontal pixel grid that houses 601 real pieces of plastic trash sourced from all over the world. Each piece of trash acts as a float and is pulled on and off the surface grid by 601 mini waterproof engines hidden under a pool of black biobased water.

The Creators Project has the full story.

Conservation Lab: Ancient Japanese Scroll.

Conservators working on Hanabusa Itchō’s 'Death of Buddha.' All photos courtesy of MFA Boston.

Conservators working on Hanabusa Itchō’s ‘Death of Buddha.’ All photos courtesy of MFA Boston.

If you visit the Museum of Fine Arts Boston these days, you can witness conservation in action on an enormous Japanese hanging scroll, which is currently being remounted in the Asian paintings gallery. Hanabusa Itchō’s masterpiece The Death of the Historical Buddha was painted in 1713 and entered the MFA Boston’s collection in 1911. Though it was last on view in 1990, the scroll hadn’t been treated since 1850. “Usually these scrolls are remounted every 100 years or so, which is why the project was a priority,” Jacki Elgar, Head of Asian Conservation at the museum, tells The Creators Project.

As time goes on, scroll mounts can begin to fail or damage the painting, she explains—this is the most common reason for treatment. A painting might also become a candidate for remounting if the mount is inappropriate (for example, a 16th century painting that is mounted in a 20th century style), or if it was put inside a frame by a Western collector, in which case it can be returned to its original, hanging scroll format.

[…]

The conservation of Death of Buddha continues in the MFA Boston galleries until January 16, 2017. To learn more about the conservators—who have all completed extensive ten-year training programs in Japan—click here. The Creators Project has the full story, this would be fascinating to see. If you have the chance to go, do it!

Seven Young Artists…

Today, Americans will decide who will be the 45th President of the United States of America. An online exhibition considers the national and international consequences of this election. The group exhibition entitled, Pulling Down The Walls, organized by Galerie Number 8, examines some of the bigger issues—immigration, race, gender and equality—of the year. Featuring artists, Campbell Addy, Ivan Forde, Justin French, Nicolas Henry, Hector Mediavilla, Leonard Pongo, and David Uzochukwi, the pop-up show uses portrait, landscape, and reportage photography, to show what’s at stake in this presidential election. Read and see more at The Creators Project.

Justin French, Patriot, 2015, 20 x 30 inches. © Justin French.

Justin French, Patriot, 2015, 20 x 30 inches. © Justin French.

 

Hector Mediavilla, Latingo Border #6, 2010, 48 x 60 inches. © Hector Mediavilla.

Hector Mediavilla, Latingo Border #6, 2010, 48 x 60 inches. © Hector Mediavilla.

Boooooks.

books

We voted here in town before heading to Bismarck, and the polling station was as it ever is, with some townspeople hanging out, having coffee and breakfast from the table laden with handmade goodies. Had a chat with people about the turkeys, and other stuff, then got to the business of voting. Small towns are great places to vote. Then it was into Bismarck, book store being the first stop. It’s been a while, but the radar was going off, and for good reason, too. I was thrilled to see another Brom – for those who aren’t familiar, Brom is a talented artist who started writing some years back. I highly recommend his first book, The Child Thief, which is based on Peter Pan, but it’s no Disneyfied retelling. It’s a dark tale, which deals with unsettling issues, such as child abuse. All of his books include colour plates of his artwork, usually key characters in the book. I was quite surprised to see the second book in Ken Liu’s dynasty series, this one follows The Dandelion Dynasty. That man is one fast writer! Very excited to get my hands Black Panther. Just started it, but so far, it’s very good, and I’m in love with Ayo and Aneka, they deserve their own book, and their own movie. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School arrived very quickly, and is so very poignant.

I also bought this little candle in a tin, tangerine, juniper, and clove, a scent I not only want to breathe in, but to eat and bathe in too. A brilliant blend. Also, a surprise package at the post office today – more wonderful smelling soap from Marcus, and a complete surprise – thank you so much!

Mario Patiño.

Olvido amor, modelo. Mario Patino, fotografìa. Arte Gay, queer art. Mexico-3

Olvido amor, modelo. Mario Patino, fotografìa. Arte Gay, queer art. Mexico-3

Mario Patiño is a multidisciplinary artist born and living in Mexico. In order to create awareness of LGBTQ diversity, his photographic work focuses on gender transgression. Patiño pushes back against what he sees as the world of prejudice and oppression from the male chauvinist, heteronormative Mexican society toward this community.

“I began working with LGBT performance artists, as their body language is intense, mannered, and uniquely different from heterosexuals. They are also accustomed to dealing with nudity and transgression with an open mind.”

“How to speak of the periphery? Peripheral is all that gets out of control, that corrupts a system, that lives on the edge, that adheres to the margins, that puts in doubt, that causes questioning, that rebels, that revolutionizes, that rises, that organizes insurrections, it’s everything that doesn’t fit, that resists, that refuses to play the game by the rules, it’s the possibility of change, of something new.”

Absolutely amazing work, this. Exquisite, thought provoking, and poignant. You can see more at The Advocate, and at Contemporary Multidisciplinar Performance Art. More photos below the fold – there’s nothing graphic, but you might want to have a caution if you’re at work.

[Read more…]

Sunday Facepalm: Rick-rolling Westboro.

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Photo: Playbill.

This was a wonderful response to Westboro’s standard hate. The facepalm here is reserved just for little Westboro, who seems to be out of steam, and out of ideas. Julliard? Really? I’m thinking someone just wanted an excuse to hit NY for some fabulous shopping.

“This [Julliard] is the heart and soul of the arts community,” Phelps-Roper reportedly yelled over the music. She added that Juilliard staff “have taught this nation proud sin” and “have filled the nation with proud sodomites.”

[…]

They were quickly surrounded by a group of 100 students who “rick-rolled” the hate mongers with a classical version of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

Via NewNowNext.