Spoon & Tamago

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Pulled Paper Fiber Artwork by Cyoko Tamai

July 15, 2014 / Johnny / Comments Off

all photos by kaori sohma copyright spoon & tamago | click to enlarge

Armed with just a tiny steel dip pen, Japanese artist Cyoko Tamai tears through paper, pulling up fibers to create three-dimensional fuzzed relief sculptures from just ink and paper. When you think about it – and it’s evident that Tamai has done plenty of that – a painting, on a microscopic scale, is just multitudes of fibers stained with ink. And that’s how Tamai approaches her canvas: in pursuit of “the finest lines that are the smallest unit of painting.”

And it’s not just any type of paper that Tamai is deconstructing. “This is the world’s thinnest handmade paper,” she told us recently, holding up a delicate piece of washi paper that looked like it was about to burn off like morning fog. We were standing in her makeshift studio at the Japan Society in Manhattan where Tamai is in the midst of a summer residency program. The paper was the work of another artist, a Japanese Living National Treasure, actually, named Sazio Hamada. “I consider my work a collaboration between myself and Hamada-san,” she told us.

Motion Silhouette | a storybook of light and shadows

July 14, 2014 / Johnny / Comments Off

Motion Silhouette is a fascinating little storybook designed by 25-year old designers Megumi Kajiwara and Tatsuhiko Niijima. By cleverly inserting delicate paper cutouts between each page, the story doesn’t come to life until the reader begins to manipulate the silhouettes with a flashlight. Trees grow taller, trains get closer and ghosts show their scary faces. It seems like the perfect tale to tell in the dark.

Given the level of craftsmanship involved, the books are made-to-order and can take a bit of time to arrive, but the designers are selling them for 6000 yen each. You just have to email them to place your order.

Japanese Artist Megumi Igarashi Arrested for 3D Printed Artwork Based on Her Vagina

July 14, 2014 / Johnny / 44 Comments

[UPDATE 5/9/2016] Megumi Igarashi was found guilty in court today for violating Japanese obscenity laws after distributing 3D data of her genitals. She was fined 400K yen (about $3700). She was, however, cleared of another charge relating to displaying a kayak modeled after her vagina.

Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi was arrested on Monday for sending 3D modeling data of her vagina. She’s accused of distribution of obscene material electronically, but has denied all charges saying “I do not acknowledge that (the work) is an obscenity.” A petition has already been set up to protest the charges, which represent a double-standard in a country which sanctions an annual penis festival and is also disturbingly behind by almost any international pornography standard.

Jon Stewart weighs in on the debate: “Japan, you arrested a woman for 3D-printing her vagina, but you gave dicks their own holiday”

To date, the 42-year old artist, who goes by the pseudonym rokudenashi-ko ( “good-for-nothing kid”) was most well known for a crowd-funded project to create a kayak based on 3D modeling data of her own vagina. In an interview last year Igarashi explained that the project was in response to her own self doubt. In a country where the female anatomy is “overly hidden,” she “did not know what a pussy should look like.”

Let’s Talk Shit | an exhibition about poop and toilets at Miraikan

July 10, 2014 / Johnny / 2 Comments

The children are literally being flushed down the toilet at Miraikan’s latest exhibition, which features a ladder leading up to a gigantic toilet. Kids, adorned with a poop-hat to heighten the experience, can ascend up to the toilet and climb in to really get a sense for what it’s like to be on the receiving end of our daily discharge. It’s all part of “Toilet!? — Human Waste & Earth’s Future,” which just went on display last week at the Miraikan.

Nendo Designs Winnie the Pooh Coasters and Lids

July 10, 2014 / Johnny / 2 Comments

After successfully collaborating with Walt Disney Japan on a series of furniture inspired by Winnie the Pooh, Nendo, led by designer Oki Sato, is back at it again. This time they’ve designed some irresistibly cute coasters and bottle stoppers/lids featuring everyone’s favorite bear.

KAWS New Brooklyn Studio by Masamichi Katayama

July 10, 2014 / Johnny / Comments Off

All photos by NACÁSA & PARTNERS INC. | courtesy Wonder Wall

The artist Brian Donnelly, aka KAWS, got his early start by defacing New York billboards. But he’s grown up a lot. He now runs his own company (which is actually based in Toyko), he creates high-priced artwork, and he just recently moved into a new studio in Williamsburg that looks a lot more like an upscale gallery.

After purchasing an old derelict building on North 9th Street (right next to Paws and Claws Veterinary Hospital – am I the only one who finds that funny?) for about one million, he recruited Tokyo-based architect Masamichi Katayama of Wonder Wall to renovate it. This isn’t the first collaboration between the two. Back in 2006 Katayama designed the Original Fake store in Tokyo. “Unlike the solid, brick facade that blends well into the neighborhood, the interior is a vastly open space,” says Katayama. “This bright, extensive openness illuminated with toplight is a result of the artist’s request to create large paintings under natural light.”

WORK WORK SHOP | a new experimental workplace in Tokyo

July 10, 2014 / Johnny / Comments Off

“Today is the future,” says the ifs future laboratory, an initiative started last year by itochu fashion system (ifs). Earlier this month they took one more step towards that motto by opening WORK WORK SHOP, a new collaborative workspace that aims to change the way we think, interact, work and collaborate. The space will be made available to brands and companies to conduct workshops, focus groups or simply interact with others, like-minded or not.

Golugo Matsumoto Teaches Juvenile Delinquents The Value of Life Through Kanji

July 9, 2014 / Johnny / 5 Comments

For the past three years Japanese comedian Gorugo Matsumoto has been traveling around Japan giving lectures to juvenile delinquents locked up in some of Japan’s 52 detention centers. “I was curious what kind of kids where there, and for what reason and what crime,” says Matsumoto on his blog, which has been gaining attention as he writes and reflects on his visits.

On a recent TV show that aired June 30, 2014, cameras followed Matsumoto and documented one of his “classes.” He was teaching the 2000-year old logographic characters known as Kanji, which make up Japan’s writing system. But as Matsumoto showed, with deft and humor, they don’t just represent words. Upon closer observation they’re infused with values and wisdom passed down from our ancient ancestors.

You can watch the full clip above but I’ve translated and summarized a few of Matsumoto’s primary examples:

Kanji: 逃
Meaning: to run away
Significance: the kanji is made up from the radicals 辶 (meaning road or path) and 兆 (meaning dawn, horizon or sign of change). If you’re scared or sense danger it’s ok to run away. It’s ok to change course. Your destination remains the same but you’re just taking a different path to get there.

Artist Hikaru Cho Transforms Guys Into Hollywood Stars

July 8, 2014 / Johnny / Comments Off

photos courtesy the artist

Hyperrealistic Japanese painter Hikaru Cho has been continuing her investigation into transforming and disguising common foods as other food. But she’s recently taken her talent and pointed to another subject: the everyday dude.

Zoo Jeans | animals create distressed denim to help raise money for their zoo

July 7, 2014 / Johnny / 1 Comment

Some people take showers while wearing their denim to get that worn-in look. Others use sandpaper to fast-forward time and achieve instantly-vintage jeans. But a new, innovative method is putting all those old ways to shame. The tools? Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

“Zoo Jeans are the only jeans on earth designed by dangerous animals,” says Mineko Club, a volunteer group of zoo supporters who came up with the idea to help raise money for the zoo and animal conservation. “We first take their favorite playthings – old tires and giant rubber balls – and wrap them in sheets of denim.”