wh, wh, wh

Should I just post some old drawings? Bad-quality lighting in the photographs, be warned.

Each of these is a drawn response to one of a series of prompts given to me by friends.

If not now then when?
Thank you for reading.

things which come open; things which don't quite fit; ways to touch another person

and also this, for some reason (where on earth did I get this image, though?

 I'll find the source and get back to you!)-

from top: maybe, The Sartorialist (we'll see); AIC collection, the Americas; NEW ODOR photo blog

simplicity of the image

Matsumoto Taiyou and Yarou Abe 

Well, it's not really simplicity, is it? More like apparent lack of refinement. The pleasure is in the balance of image-elements, though; something to aspire to. These artists are easy on the eyes and it's intriguing that they should share this attribute when the stories of the one are so comforting and of the other, sometimes so unsettling. (The former, Yarou Abe; the latter, Matsumoto Taiyou. The same order applies to the presentation of the images here, from Kanai-kun and Shinya Shokudou respectively [scan sources: Mangahere and Mangapark].)

Matsumoto Taiyou

Another mangaka for your potential viewing pleasure. The author/artist behind such series as Tekkon Kinkreet, Ping Pong, No. 5, and Sunny, Matsumoto is a pretty special guy. 

I want to call Matsumoto Taiyou's drawings spare- and perhaps his renderings of humans sometimes are- but in the expressions, postures, and backgrounds with which he equips his characters, we see a seething world in which things seem to be waiting to go wrong, or perhaps already have in some irrevocable way. 

Perhaps what seems to be a messiness in Matsumoto's drawings is actually a virtuosity; the skritchy quality of his line, especially in his black-and-white work, lends tension to bodies which are otherwise simple. This contradiction within the drawn body itself- often the body of a child, in Matsumoto's work, which has dealt with street urchins, orphans, and children with strange mental acuities or disturbances- helps us to understand a bit more intuitively the idea, prevalent in Matsumoto's work and addressed more overtly by the plots of his manga, that children are not, in fact, the simplest of beings. 

Children can be simple.

But they can also be complicated. 

In Matsumoto's work, they are often both, sometimes simultaneously. 

Above: first image, from Tekkon Kinkreet; second, from Takemitsu Zamurai (online source: mangareader)

Gratuitously, some other work by Matsumoto, of a somewhat more lyrical and less contained character (also from Takemitsu Zamurai);

And perhaps we shall have more on this rather wonderful author/artist next time, as I seem to be having trouble formulating a reaction to him although I know I've got one. In the meantime, places where you can see some more of his art:

https://www.tumblr.com/search/taiyo%20matsumoto%20sunny

http://taiyomatsumoto.tumblr.com/

http://kharyrandolph.tumblr.com/post/70194462442/zegas-taiyo-matsumoto-steinerfrommars

Maybe we'll even get to talking about his wife, the intriguing Saho Tono (also a mangaka).

In trying to think about alleyways,

.




images, in order of appearance: Anna-Sophie Berger, Alexander Alekseenko, Kyle Johnson (all via newodor.tumblr.com), myself.

BAKA AND GOGH and oh my god the NATIONAL QUIZ

WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?!? AND WHY IS IT SO GOOD?

You may well ask. I think the formula in Katou Shinkichi's case is just to go completely crazy, but in a very comprehensive way (i.e., to the rhythms of a story- in the case of the National Quiz, one written by Sugimoto Reiichi- and in an almost scientifically experimental manner). You will see what I mean in a moment. I hope.

(Images pulled from MangaHere- http://www.mangahere.co/manga/national_quiz/)

We have:

1. A lunatic in a lion costume riding a mechanical dragon;

2. the National Quiz, Persian miniature style;

3. the Dark and Stormy Night, kimono-clad secret agent version.

IS THIS NOT SUFFICIENT ENTICEMENT FOR YOU? DO I EVEN NEED TO TELL YOU WHAT THE STORY IS? I DON'T WANT TO. I WON'T. I DARE YOU TO READ THIS COMIC!

On to BAKA AND GOGH, which you can find on the website MangaPark (http://v2012.mangapark.com/manga/Baka-Gogh).

Anyway. This time Katou Shinkichi illustrates his own narrative and it is wacked out, my friends. So much so that I would ALSO CONSIDER IT COMPULSORY READING. If I were a drawing master with unlimited power and influence over my pupils.

Is he not VERSATILE AS ALL GETOUT? Within a range stretching from benevolent madness to total chaos.

(images associated with Baka and Gogh [i.e., the last four] come from MangaPark; url above)

Some more photographs; crowded places deserted; in-between things.

All photographs posted today are my own.