Animation, Art, and Other Shiny Things
This excellent example of projection mapping is from November 2011 and celebrates the 100th anniversary of Seikei Gakuen (Seikei University) in Kichijoji, Japan (near tokyo). The backdrop is one of the campus buildings (though i don’t know which building it is), and is 20 by 70 meters.
In a re-imagining akin to the Chris Felker art I posted a couple weeks ago, New York graphic artist Steve Bialik created a series of Ukiyo-e-style (浮世絵 “pictures of the floating world”) prints of Star Wars characters.
You can find more of Mr Bialik’s work at his blog STEVAPALOOZA!
Darth Vader
Jabba the Hutt
Boba Fett
Yoda
More of this series under the fold. Read more of this post
Clinton Felker over at The Hand that Feeds has re-imagined Star Wars characters in a retro/futuristic feudal Japanese style to excellent effect.
Darth Vader
Imperial Storm Trooper
Boba Fett
Yoda
Mr Felker continues to create new art in this series (as of this writing) and sells larger prints at his website.
Gotoku-ji Cemetary watercolor by Mister Kha
The legends surrounding Maneki Neko are many and varied. The bones of the old narratives appear placeable in history, but much that wraps them have their roots in Japanese folklore and tradition. (as well as occasional, simple, voracity)
The legend I prefer takes place during a dark and stormy night at a monastery near Edo, Japan (now Tokyo) in the year 1615.
Gotoku-ji temple was very poor. The monk had barely enough food for himself and a cat he had taken in, Tama, but he made do, tending the monastery and following his path as best he could.
Ii Naotaka
After splitting a particularly meager meal, the monk said to Tama, “Your companionship means much to me, but I can not assure you a good meal. You should not starve with me, but find yourself a home worthy of your company.” The cat, of course, did not reply, but went to sit in a window of the temple as cats are wont to do.
Outside in the rain, Ii Naotaka, second son of Ii Naomasa, hereditary owner of Hikone Castle, was returning from the Battle of Tennōji. With the storm worsening, Ii Naotaka and his men took refuge beneath a tree. Looking around he saw the cat in the monastery window. It’s paw raised, the cat seemed to be beckoning the Daimyo to take shelter in the small temple. As he approached the monastery, lightening stabbed down and split the tree that he had just been standing beside. He surely would have been killed had he remained by the tree.
The urn purported to contain the ashes of Tama (Gotoku-ji Temple)
Welcomed in, Ii Naotaka found the old priest to be wise and kind and devoted to his path and his companion Tama. To repay the cat and priest for saving his life he became Gotoku-ji temple’s patron. When Tama died, the cat was given a place of honor in the temple cemetery, where many important members of the Ii family are also buried, and the first Maneki Neko statue was created in his memory.
Today, Gotoku-ji temple is still open for worship and attracts visitors from all over the world.
But the story of Maneki Neko is far from over. Read more of this post
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The Ruffled Crow 