ART: Witness the Absurd - Pastel Monster Portraits

Witness the Absurd - (28 works)

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   Witness the Absurd is a UK based student working her way through art school by selling T-shirts & doing commissions of manga, anime, game & kaiju monsters using her unique Miami vice color palette.

HAIKU Art Review: Witness the Absurd

Deviant monsters
Pretty pink & baby blue
Approachable fiends

ART: Gordon Cheung - Toxic Corporate Cowboys

Gordon Cheung - (30 works)

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   At first glance, Gordon Cheung's collaged paintings may look like an art student experimenting with Photoshop filters for the first time. The posterization, find edges, & solarized effects are actually achieved via a complex process of actual layering, which for Cheung always begins with the stock listings from newspapers as his base.

HAIKU Art Review: Gordon Cheung

Toxic cowboys ride
Euphoric dystopia
Nuclear neon stock

   Gordon is a British Born Chinese (BBC) of Hong Kong origin, born in 1975. He lives & works in London. He graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2001 with an MFA in painting.

ART: MinSuk Kim (김민석) - NBA 2014-15 Season in Review

MinSuk Kim (김민석) - (17 works)

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   With the NBA Playoffs upon us, I thought it would be fun to take a visual review of this year's outstanding players via MinSuk's stylish illustrations.

    MinSuk aka Kwang33 is one of the leading sports illustrators in Korea. He designs for several sports organizations, magazines & international clients. He has worked 10 years as the lead designer for the Korean magazine, "Rookie" which covers the NBA. He illustrates for the Korean Basketball League as well as Jumpball magazine which covers the KBL. He shares many of his designs on his Facebook page NBA Illustration.

   This has been Stephan Curry's year. Truly a special season where everything seemed to come together for the Warriors. I think Steve Kerr is a very special basketball mind & his time with Gregg Popovich has had a lot to do with his current success. But Curry is the glue of the team, with his on court domination, focus & demeanor with Kerr & teammates which brought them to 67 wins & will take them deep into the playoffs.

ART: Hajime Sorayama (空山基) - Objets de Fétichisme

Hajime Sorayama (空山基) - (14 works)

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   Japanese painter Hajime Sorayama found fame in the 80s with skillfully executed, highly fetishized airbrushed portraits of sexy female forms. His "objets de fetish" quickly found their way into American men's magazines Playboy & Penthouse, from there he went on to illustrate movie posters, album covers & other ads for various international brands.

HAIKU Art Review: Hajime Sorayama

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Fetishized females

   Some of Sorayama's art is cringe inducingly sexist, but his images are so seductive, so technically masterful that he draws the viewer into his world. There is love &/or passion in his art. He lovingly objectifies women, he passionately fetishizes them & the results are fantastic guilty pleasures.

ART: Jonny Wan - Complex Simplicity

Jonny Wan - (18 works)
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   British born Chinese graphic artist Jonny Wan weaves simple geometric lines w/ irresistible patterns to create striking illustartions for numerous A-list clients such as; The Academy Awards, GQ, Audi, Nike, Wired, etc.

Representation: US - UK - France - Scandinavia

  

HAIKU Art Review: Jonny Wan

Precise arrangement
Pattern, color & form married
Digital kung-fu

   Born in Sheffield, now working in Manchester for clients worldwide across advertising, editorial, publishing, fashion and product design.
   He studied at Manchester School of Art (class of 2008).

Worst Asian Ever: Shun Gon in The Aristocats

Shun Gon  #WAE

   Shun Gon is one of the alley cats band members. He plays the piano & drums & is supposed to be Chinese.

   The character & way over-the-top treatment was clearly informed by Mickey Rooney's infamous portrayal of I.Y. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's  

"Shanghai, Hong Kong, egg foo yung. Fortune cookie always wrong."

ART: Tadanori Yokoo (横尾 忠則) - Groovy Graphics Master

Tadanori Yokoo (横尾 忠則)

  While I usually try to focus on contemporary Asian art it's always hep to pay tribute to some of the masters, the giants who have made waves so massive the ripples are still being felt today. 

   Tadanori Yokoo, born in Nishiwaki, Japan, in 1936, is one of Japan's most successful & influential graphic designers & artists. He began his career as a stage designer for avant garde theatre in Tokyo & was close friends with Ken Takakura. 

HAIKU Art Review: Tadanori Yokoo

Groovy graphic style
Limitless pop collages
Optical Orgasms

   Akira Kurosawa & writer Yukio Mishima are two of Yokoo's most formative influences.

ART: Hajime Sorayama (空山基) - Chrome Fetbots

Hajime Sorayama (空山基)
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   Japanese painter Hajime Sorayama found fame in the 80s with skillfully executed, highly fetishized airbrushed portraits of sexy female forms. His "objets de sexe" quickly found their way into American men's magazines Playboy & Penthouse, from there he went on to illustrate movie posters, album covers & other ads for various international brands. In this century, he has collaborated with fashion designers Mark Ecko & Stussy. Below is concept art commissioned by George Lucas for a Star Wars project.

Worst Asian Ever: Ken Jeong

Ken Jeong (정강조) #WAE
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   Ok, maybe he's not THE worst, but I'm not a big fan of Dr. Kendrick Kang-Jo Jeong

   I have nothing against Ken personally. I understand how difficult it is for Asian Americans to make it in Hollywood.

   What disappoints me is the whiny, annoying, obnoxious, weird characters he always plays & it's because of these roles that he is one of the most successful & prominent Asian American actors of this decade.

   I know people gotta pay their bills & if Ken didn't play these roles, casting would always find someone else.

   The rationalization is always the same, it's a first step, foot in the door. First we play slave, pimp, mugger, ho & that paves the way for future generations to play the hero, president, cowboy.

ART: Android Jones - Asian Influences

Andrew 'Android' Jones
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   Andrew "Android" Jones is an American visual artist. He describes his art as Electro-mineralism, with Pop-Shamanism tendencies.

   He has created live art around the world, including digital visual art projections from the Sydney Opera House in Australia to the Ghats in Varanasi in India.

   He started his career with George Lucas at Industrial Light and Magic & worked as the only North American concept artist for the Japanese gaming company Nintendo

Source: Wikipedia

Year of the Ram (shirt)

HAIKU Art Review: Android Jones

Deities detail
Delightful DMT dreams
Digital dharma

 "Android is classically trained in academic drawing & painting & this traditional art background is the foundation through which he bridges the knowledge of the past & brings it into the future."    - Michael Schwartz