Japan has always been at the top of the list of countries we’d like to visit someday. Not only are we fascinated by Japanese arts and design, we’d also like to see if it is as strange there as depicted in Haruki Murakami’s books (recommended readings: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Norwegian Wood, After Dark, . . . → Read More: Japan: Tradition. Innovation. – An exhibition review]]>

Japan has always been at the top of the list of countries we’d like to visit someday. Not only are we fascinated by Japanese arts and design, we’d also like to see if it is as strange there as depicted in Haruki Murakami’s books (recommended readings: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Norwegian Wood, After Dark, A Wild Sheep Chase).

When we saw a few months ago than an exhibition about Japanese design was coming to town (at the Museum of Civilization) we thought it was something not to be missed and we ended up going last Sunday.

“From fashion to robots, today’s cutting-edge achievements are mirrored in an earlier time. Creativity and innovation flourished in both the Edo period (1603–1867) and contemporary Japan (1945–2011). These times are similar in Japan because of their lack of armed conflict, greater political autonomy, shifting social hierarchies, and increasing wealth and leisure time.

By exploring five key areas — travel, robotics, social status, consumer culture and entertainment — Japan: Tradition. Innovation. demonstrates the parallels between these two important periods.” -from the exhibition website

That sums up very well what the exhibition was about. From ancient to modern times, we were given an overview of what has been achieved in the land of the rising sun in a range of fields from travelling to entertaining. The exhibition was really worth going even though we felt like a few things were missing. Indeed, why was there no mention of Tamagoshi, these keyring/digital pets that were so popular in the late 90’s. Also, what about Nintendo? A little mention of this brand which is basically a synonym with Japan for people of our generation would have been appreciated! Also, there was no Maneki Neko (lucky cat) to be seen… these little creatures have been around since the later part of the Edo period and are recognized around the world as a synonym of good luck… Again, a little “hi” to them would have been nice!

Anyways, there was still a lot to see so here are a few of our highlights:

Old Maps, Object  & Furniture

A few very ancient maps and very old objects such as writing and manicure kits were displayed and it’s always amazing to see how detailed and decorative they are and how time consuming it must have been to create them.

A daimyo lunchbox, 1800s – Wood with lacquer and gold, Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum © ROM

Woodprints

Some woodprint artworks were on show and included the actual wood blocks that had served to create the print. Sadly Vicky’s all times favourite – The Great Wave at Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai – wasn’t on display. We can’t find pictures of the ones that were there so here is a picture of The Great Wave anyway. Getting back to the exhibition, it was very impressive to see how the woodblock used to create the prints were just as nice at the final artwork themselves. It made us want to try this technique at some point.

The Great Wave at Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai

Kimono & Samurai Armor

A great collection of kimonos wore for various occasions were on display. Be it to wear around the house or wear at a traditional ceremony, this type of dress is always synonym of refinement and elegance due to its fine patterns and delicate fabrics… in contradiction to the daimyo (lords who controlled Japan’s provinces during the Edo period)’s armour, which is a lot more oppressive in look!

Daimyo armour, Late 1500s to 1800s - Collection of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

Pottery & dishes

Chopsticks, sushi dishes, rice bowls…  Whether they’re modern or ancient, a special attention is always paid by Japanese designers to the shape, size and colour of each item they create.

Porcelain by designer Mashahiro Mori (Manufacturer: Hakusan Porcelain Co. Ltd.) - Collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization

Honda Civic

We were able to say “hello” to our own car’s ancestor, the very first generation Honda Civic introduced in 1972. It was designed to compete with American compact vehicles and offered features such as front power disc brakes and reclining vinyl bucket seats and AM radio… Such luxury!

Honda Civic First Generation, 1972-1973

Robots

Who wouldn’t want to have a robot to do their daily chores? We ourselves have been contemplating getting a Roomba to get rid of our mascots’ dander effortlessly… After meeting Wakamaru, we find the Roomba’s design a bit too simple and a tiny bit unfriendly compared to Wakamaru’s opened arms! Sadly though, Wakamaru isn’t meant to clean your house; it was designed to help elderly users to take their medications, to provide them with basic information such as the news and weather forecasts, etc.

Designer: Toshiyuki Kita, 2002 (Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan)

Anime & Manga

From Astro Boy to Sailor Moon, without of course forgetting Pokémon and Hello Kitty, the last part of the exhibition was dedicated to anime and mangas (Japanese word for “comics” and “cartoons” which, in the west, has been, appropriated to refer to comics created in Japan or by Japanese authors). Vicky’s childhood favourite “Rémi sans famille” (家なき子, Ie Naki Ko – in English: Nobody’s Boy: Remi) was also featured in the exhibition and reminded Vicky of its lovely theme tune. Here it is for you to enjoy:

Sadly, there was no mention of Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation film studio that produced many great films and won many awards (recommended viewings: Castle in the Sky; My Neighbor Totoro ; Porco Rosso ; Spirited Away). Again, we know that not everything  Japanese could have been featured in the exhibition so I guess we’ll just have to plan a trip to Japan in order to see the rest! Who wants to babysit the mascots?!

Studio Ghibli

Winterlude 2011 - Ottawa, Canada - Confederation Park

We’re not big fans of winter, but yesterday we made an exception and took advantage of the warm-ish weather to go to Winterlude, Ottawa’s annual winter festival. We wanted to see the ice sculptures that were, as you can see above, quite spectacular! We couldn’t . . . → Read More: Winterlude 2011 – Ice Sculpture Competition]]>

Winterlude 2011 - Ottawa, Canada - Confederation Park

We’re not big fans of winter, but yesterday we made an exception and took advantage of the warm-ish weather to go to Winterlude, Ottawa’s annual winter festival. We wanted to see the ice sculptures that were, as you can see above, quite spectacular! We couldn’t photograph every pieces due to Confederation Park – or should I say the “Rogers Crystal Garden”?- being extremely crowded with families, pushchairs and tourists, but we managed to take a few photos thanks to Marc’s height. I am always amazed of the precision and details that goes into each sculptures and could personally not do it, even if I had the talent, since I would get way too upset when it’d begin to melt and would probably insist of getting a huge freezer to store it all year-round. More convenient to stick to graphic design.

This year, the competition theme was “Harmony & Contrast” and I don’t think I could have guessed it by looking at the different sculptures. I am not a judge, so it doesn’t really matter to me and doesn’t alter the fact that I am immensely impressed by what I saw! Other than the ice sculpture competition and the “Sugar Shack” setup featuring a bunch of lumberjacks, the rest was pretty much your usual festival stuff: a row of kiosks selling deliciously smelling but ridiculously expensive food (in this case poutine, beavertails & maple syrup taffy), souvenir shop, overly present sponsors (Rogers and their giant ice-sculpted Samsung phone trying to sell you a 3-years contract) and loud Canadian music. Overall though it was nice to be outside for a bit and to re-discover the greatest pleasure of Canadian winter: going back inside with nice red cheeks to enjoy a hot drink!

]]> http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/2011/02/07/winterlude-2011-ice-sculpture-competition/feed/ 0 http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/2010/09/14/1187/ http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/2010/09/14/1187/#comments Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:52:12 +0000 ycd http://yellowcardesign.com/blog/?p=1187

Jeff Koons - Rabbit

You have until Sunday, September 19th, to visit the Pop Life: Art in a Materiel World exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada. We went a few weeks ago and strongly recommend it. The exhibition has been put together by Tate Modern (London, UK, which we love and dearly miss) . . . → Read More: Pop Life: Art in a Material World]]>

Jeff Koons - Rabbit

You have until Sunday, September 19th, to visit the Pop Life: Art in a Materiel World exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada. We went a few weeks ago and strongly recommend it. The exhibition has been put together by Tate Modern (London, UK, which we love and dearly miss) and features works from Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup prints to Takashi Murakami’s Lonesome Cowboy & Hiropon.

Pop Life highlights not only the work of Pop Art artists, but also their often eccentric lifestyles and some of the controversy that they caused. Consequently, after the visit you feel like not only you discovered some artworks that you had never seen before, but you’ve also learned about the artists and understood a bit more how they came to create their work. You realize that the likes of Warhol, Koons and Hirst were/are individual publicly craving for fame and money who decided that the way to get to this was by creating art that sells. And when you come face to face with a formaldehyded unicorn and realized that yes, if you had a few spare millions, you’d like to own that thing, well you can’t really blame the artists for it… (Hirst’s The Dream Foal was for auction at Sotheby’s in 2008 and estimated to fetch between £2,000,000 to £3,000,000…Couldn’t find how much it ended up been sold for.)

Damien Hirst - The Dream Foal

Highlight of the visit: Seeing a 14 years-old clearly embarrassed by having to hang out with his parents as they discuss the work of Jeff Koon in an “Adult Only” room where gigantic prints of his Made in Heaven series were displayed. Hilarious!

The National Gallery of Canada is the sole North American venue for this exhibition, which features more than 250 pieces from the past three decades. I couldn’t find where it’s heading next, so you better drop by Ottawa if you don’t want to miss it!

Source of images for this post:
http://fashion-stylist.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/image/DamienHirst.jpg

http://www.meonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Jeff_Koons_Rabbit.jpg

Way before Shepard Fairey became famous for having designed the Obama “HOPE” poster, we went to one of his exhibition at Stolenspace Gallery, a very cool place in London (http://www.stolenspace.com). We fell in love with the picture above (it was gigantic; the size of a wall so very impressive) and decided that we wanted . . . → Read More: Obey vs The Labour Party]]>

Shepard Fairey

Way before Shepard Fairey became famous for having designed the Obama “HOPE” poster, we went to one of his exhibition at Stolenspace Gallery, a very cool place in London (http://www.stolenspace.com). We fell in love with the picture above (it was gigantic; the size of a wall so very impressive) and decided that we wanted it as artwork in the bedroom. We got a print of it, framed it and put it on the wall. Unfortunately, when we moved from England to Canada we were unable to take it with us so it’s still there, along with *sigh* our design books, portfolios and other stuff *sigh*.

That was back in 2007, so I had almost forgot about my love for that print until I came across the 2010 Manifesto for the Labour Party (UK). Even though it’s probably unintended, it does look a bit like a weak imitation of the Obey poster… Except that instead of looking at a polluted city the couple on the manifesto are looking at an nuclear explosion at the sun — but seriously; let’s be realistic — when did the UK become such a sunny destination???

2010 Manifesto

In the first image, the tag line These sunsets are to die for! actually makes sense with the picture in the way that yes, pollution will eventually kill you, no matter how lovely it makes the sky look.

On the second one they’re apparently staring into the future or as the manifesto says A future fair for all. I don’t really see how a blinding sunrise signifies a ‘A future fair for all’… To me it’s saying that they’re staring into the abyss, an uncertain future so keep those closest to you close as what’s coming might not be good times. This is basically the last thing you want to hear from a party trying to get your vote and really poor work by the design team as they have (to me at least) created an image that does the opposite of what it’s supposed to… One thing is for sure: the second image won’t make it as artwork for the bedroom for sure!

Vick @ Yellow Car Design

If you are located near Budapest, Copenhagen, La Paz, Maputo, Oita (Japan), Zwolle (the Netherlands) or in the very exotic Toronto, you can go and visit the 2009 World Press Photo Exhibition that is currently on display at various locations.  This free (yeah!) photojournalism exhibition features pictures that are disturbing, . . . → Read More: World Press Photo 09]]>

World Press Photo 09 - Flyer

If you are located near Budapest, Copenhagen, La Paz, Maputo, Oita (Japan), Zwolle (the Netherlands) or in the very exotic Toronto, you can go and visit the 2009 World Press Photo Exhibition that is currently on display at various locations.  This free (yeah!) photojournalism exhibition features pictures that are disturbing, shocking, funny, quirky, sad, happy, pretty, ugly, lovely and disgusting: no matter what is the feeling, these pictures are guaranteed to provoke a reaction.

The exhibition showcases the creativity and professionalism in the field and it is a way for World Press Photo to encourage and stimulate the work of press photographers around the world. For more info, visit their website.

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World Press Photo 09 – Exposition de photojournalisme

Si vous passez par Budapest, Copenhague, La Paz, Maputo, Oita (Japon), Zwoile (Pays-Bas) ou par le très exotique Toronto, assurez-vous d’aller visiter l’exposition de photojournalisme de la World Press 2009 qui est présentement en cours. Cette exposition gratuite (youpi!) met en vedette des photos qui sont dérangeantes, choquantes, drôle, étranges, tristes, joyeuses, jolies, laides et dégoutantes. Peu importe le sentiment ressenti, ces photos provoqueront des réactions à tout coup!

L’exposition dévoile la créativité et le professionnalisme du genre et est une bonne façon pour World Press Photo d’encourager et stimuler le travail de photojournalistes en provenance de partout dans le monde. Pour plus d’info, visitez leur site web.