Monthly Archives: May 2021

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Misato Sano

May 20, 2021 12:03 AM \

Misato Sano completed the sculpture area of the Graduate School of Design, Tohoku University of Art and Design. The talented wood carver hails from in the Myagi prefecture of Japan. She carves wooden busts & full figures of well-groomed dogs, preferring to leave the small gouges from her chisel on their textured exteriors. On This is Colossal she says this about her work:

“For me, using the form of dogs is the most appropriate, highest-resolution method to materialize what I think of my inner self. Materializing myself in various states is about having an honest, direct dialogue with myself. In facing myself, I would like to be passionate, free, and loving, like a dog. My works are also about myself looking at myself. In that sense, I might have been making an existence that is sometimes beside myself, a little distance in other times, watching over myself.”

The artist can be followed on her website and on Instagram.

Images:  Courtesy of Misato Sano.

Posted in: Japan, Sculpture \ Tagged: ,

Yoon Hyup

May 19, 2021 12:03 AM \

Yoon Hyup is a New York based artist, born and raised in Seoul,  South Korea. His work is an abstract painting technique composed of free flowing yet structured lines and dots. His artistic style is also inspired by his skateboarding background and his experience with music. His Korean roots are respected through his use of Korea’s primary colours (red, yellow, blue, black and white) and cloud patterns which can often be found in his work.  In an interview with S’well he says this about how he started painting:  

“I never thought I would be an artist or some guy who would be talked about or asked to come paint [somewhere], but creation is something natural for me because I’m always motivated to express myself. I started studying art when I was in high school. I studied graphic art because I really wanted to design skateboards. Skateboarding and music were really big parts of my life growing up. In 2001, when I went to college, I met a lot of DJ and musician friends. A DJ crew wanted me to paint live while he performed his set, a mix hip hop, funk, disco, we’d perform all night. That was when I was 23 or 24 years old, and then I met more and more people, they would learn about me and ask me to do more paintings.”

More of his work can be viewed on his website and Instagram.

Images:  Courtesy of Yoon Hyup.

Posted in: Painting \ Tagged:

Hiroyuki Izutsu

May 17, 2021 12:03 AM \

Tokyo-based illustrator Hiroyuki Izutsu began his career as an animator before turning to illustration.  Motifs of his work include humans, landscapes and flowers.  Inspired by everyday life, Hiroyuki primarily works in opaque watercolor, combining hand-drawn and digital techniques to create his distinctive images.  His incredibly vibrant color palette can be seen on book covers in the Japanese publishing industry contributing to the sales of many bestselling books.  On Portfolio-ai he says this about why he became an illustrator:

“I’ve loved drawing since I was a kid, and I was a boy who wanted to be a manga artist. After graduating from animation school, I first started working as an animator. When I first learned about illustration, when I entered the company, the illustrations of Teruhiko Yumura and Yosuke Kawamura came out, and I thought it was cool and started to be aware of the work of “illustration” and wanted to become an illustrator. I thought.”

“When I wondered what I wanted to do, I wanted to do what I liked, and I remember drawing when I was a kid, forgetting time, and I like drawing after all. I thought.”

The artist can be found on his website, Behance, Facebook and Instagram.

Images:  Courtesy of Hiroyuki Izutsu.

Posted in: Illustration, Japan \ Tagged: ,
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