ART: Liu Bolin (刘勃麟) - The Disappearing Activist

 Liu Bolin (刘勃麟)
Web  -  Agent  -  Artbook

   Probably the most famous contemporary artist today, Liu Bolin (刘勃麟) has captured the world's attention with his Invisible Man photographs. His extremely clever & original selfies began as silent protests against China's ever increasing socioeconomic issues.

   Since coming to the international stage he has looked beyond China to global consumerism, a Hiding In The City tour of several famous metropolises, vanishing major fashion designers & doing the cover of a Bon Jovi album.

   Bolin's art has been assimilated & repurposed as a commercial novelty. Perhaps this the destiny of all art, as it eventually becomes separated from its original meaning or intent.

HAIKU Art Review: Liu Bolin

Silent subversion 
Becomes covert collusion
When your art's consumed

   I don't want to sound like the hipster music fans who immediately cry, sell out when their favorite indie band finally becomes financially viable. When artists become successful, their lives change, so their messages, priorities, & influences naturally shift as well. Cash removes everything around them 

  As you view Bolin's images below, how do you feel about the scope of his subject matter? 

FILM: A Touch of Sin (天注定) - part 3 "Foxconn Incidents"

A Touch of Sin (天注定) - Part 3

 The Foxconn (富士康) Incidents

Official  -  Watch Now

   In this thread of the film we follow Xiao Hui (Luo Lanshan), a young man trying to find his place in the Chinese Capitalist machine. 

HAIKU Art Review: Touch of Sin

Cap-hell-ist China
My handle's fish seeks water
Forever whipped down

See A Touch of Sin - Part 1 & Part 2

FILM: A Touch of Sin (天注定) - Part 2 "The Zhou Kehua & Deng Yujiao Incidents"

A Touch of Sin (天注定) - Part 2
 The Zhou Kehua (周克华) &
Deng Yujiao (邓玉娇事件) Incidents
Official  -  Watch Now

   A Touch of Sin confronts China's extreme social changes with a daring aesthetic. It's visually arresting filmic Tai Chi for the underprivileged of this world, turning abuse into a willingness to fight injustice.

   This post focuses on the middle acts of the film, where we encounter Zhao San (Wang Baoqiang), a gun-loving migrant worker  who shoots his way to easy money &  Xiao Yu (Zhao Tao), a modest sauna receptionist  who, humiliated by a client, turns into a fierce, dagger-wielding goddess.

HAIKU Art Review: Touch of Sin

Cap-hell-ist China
My handle's fish seeks water
Forever whipped down

See A Touch of Sin - Part 1 & Part 3

TOP 8: Asian TED Talks

Yellowmenace reveals the 8 best Asian TED Talks

   A doctor, engineer, computer musician, actor, model, aid worker, internet guru & artist, I gathered the most interesting talks from various fields to entertain & educate.

   I love TED Talks. I discovered the site in 2007 & it has been blowing my mind ever since. While this may be a slight detour from my usual posts, I wanted to share some of the interesting Asians who are trying to make a big different in our world.

   TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, but it wasn't until 2001, when media entrepreneur Chris Anderson took control from founder Richard Saul Wurman that TED started to become the beacon of idea sharing it is today.

Click below to see The 8 Best Asian TED Talks

FILM: A Touch of Sin (天注定) - Part 1 "Hu Wenhai Incident"

A Touch of Sin (天注定) - Part 1
 The Hu Wenhai (胡文海) Incident
Official  -  Watch Now

   With the social tension of Do the Right Thing, the ferocious isolation of Taxi Driver & the meditative expansiveness of Magnolia, writer/director Jia Zhangke (贾樟柯) confronts China's socio-economic ills. Drawing inspiration from real-life events, his portrait of China unfolds in four chapters, presenting the tragic destiny of four sinners from four different provinces.

HAIKU Film Review: Touch of Sin

Cap-hell-ist China
My handle's fish seeks water
forever whipped down

    The first episode focuses on mine manager, Dahai (Jiang Wu) who takes brutal revenge on a corrupt village chief & all those around him. This is based on Hu Wenhai (胡文海) who, with a friend killed 14 people with a rifle & an ax.

See Touch of Sin - Part 2 & Part 3

ART INTERVIEW: Tony Stella - Essential Asian Flim Posters

Tony Stella - Illustrator - Italian

   Stella's illustrations are passionate & personal, capturing memory triggering cinematic moments that leave you longing to review these classic films. Although, he creates art for a variety of films, I've selected 20 of my favorite Asian movie posters (of course).

   "Stella’s seemingly effortless pen & ink sketches, his washes of watercolor & his brush-stroke lettering hark to back to an earlier age."

        - Adrian Curry of Mubi Notebook

Kawidan by Masaki Kobayashi - 1964

   When I first discovered Tony's expressive hand painted film posters on Tumblr, I instantly became a fan. I had to see more of his unique work, luckily his very active Tumblr blog contains a huge collection of illustrated movie posters. He was also kind enough to grant me an interview & I really appreciate him responding with such thoughtful recollections of his process & past. 

   Yellowmenace: What’s your approach when creating a new poster?

   Tony Stella: Usually, I have seen the movie many times before I start working on a poster. Most of the time, the design is directly triggered by a scene or a still image that jumps out while I watch the film or that left an impression on me. I am an avid collector of film soundtracks, so I often listen to the score while working - it creates the atmosphere & gets me into the right mood.

The Yakuza (ザ・ヤクザ) by Sydney Pollack - 1974

HAIKU Art Review: Tony Stella

Essential brush strokes
Archive cinema's glory
Visage nostalgic

ART: Sachin Teng - Future's Void

Sachin Teng 

Taiwanese/American Illustrator

Web  -  Facebook  -  Behance  -  Store

   It's as if Mr. Teng has Seth Brundle's disfunctional teletransporter fused with McFly's time machine & he's merely capturing still lifes of the grotesqueries he has collected. 

The Monkey King Art Collection

Sun Wukong (孙悟空) Art Collection
YM Blog  |  Pinterest  |  Tumblr
curated by YellowMenace (20+ images)

    For over 400 years the tale, Journey to the West has been entertaining & inspiring audiences around the world. The handsome Monkey King is such a richly complex character, developing & changing through the course of his miraculous adventures.  

   Here I present for you, 16 artists from 8 countries with their interpretations of the Sage Equal to Heaven.

Felix Ip - China

ART: Reframing the Geisha

Reframing the Geisha
Art Collection (28 Images)

   The Geisha is one of the most well known & pervasive symbols not only of Japan, but of all the "Orient". Gisaeng (기생) in Korea, concubines in China; throughout Asia there are comparable equivalents. 

   I have curated 30 works of art, from 12 artists (3 non-Asian men, 3 Asian men & 6 Asian women) portraying or influenced by geisha, to explore the remixing & reframing of this ancient symbol.

Source, please (Google image search failed)

TOP 8: Asian Hip-Hop Videos

   Yellowmenace counts down the 8 greatest Asian Hip Hop Songs of all time.

   With Asian Hip Hop it's really difficult to find decent artists. The problem w/ most Asian Hip Hop is that it's not legit, meaning it's lots of upper class Beiver-esque pretty boys who identify w/ 'bling rap' or have 'gangsta' fantasies. You also get lots managers & producers packaging up some dopey sucka as an MC because their market research indicates hip-hop is trendy.

Keep reading to see the
Top 8 Asian Hip-Hop Artists of All Time.