Line Drawings — Space Odyssey

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Those drawings were created about the same time with others.

When a friend Brazilian artist, organized an exhibition called “Draw Drawing” (2004)

at the Brazilian Embassy,  I helped him to set up and I prepared to exhibit those drawings

too,  in case if not many drawings were submitted (in order to fill the wall space.  🙂 ) 

It was organized through Internet (= one of very early attempt of this kind),  surprisingly,

huge number of  drawings were submitted from all over the world, in A-0 to post-card size. 

But, in order to put up all  600 drawings,  we needed to create  new walls in the Embassy’s

big conference room.

—– Exhibition was a huge success  (the amount itself overwhelmed  visitors  🙂 )  though,

after the event, my friend got huge headache to send them back to each artist because he

couldn’t anticipate the power of Internet in such extent.

He thought, only the friends and the friend of  friends in England who can come and

collect their work,  may respond to his call,  but more than half of the artists who sent

their work for exhibition,  were from abroad.

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My drawings here got the same idea to Space Odyssey 2001,  that the life-form originated

from other planet and spread from there.   (Left drawing was designed to test the pure

imagination =  how impossible posture (hence no photo) could be realistically created) 

—– (This series got two more drawings though,  I couldn’t find them in this moment, 

whether they are somewhere else with its frame or I might have given to my friend in

the mids of chaos of taken-down the exhibition.   🙂 )

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Line-Drawing = Precursor to Wire Figure

Somebody asked me how I got the first imagination to create

a Wire Figure like “St. Lucia”.

In fact there is a Spanish painting (by Zulbaran ?) of a woman who was hit

by the Good’s revelation.  The design or her posture was after this painting.

But to make it as a wire figure there was a long accumulation of practice to

configure human body into simple contour lines.

(It was not came from Manga drawings)  😀

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Those line-Drawings were created around 1993, soon after my court case

for which I had to sell most of my professional cameras and lenses =

it’s mean I became out of business.  (I fought this case up to the Court of

Appeal without lawyer, since I didn’t know I could get Legal Aide and

didn’t need to sell livelihood. = demerit of  DIY.  Ha ha ha.   🙂 )

Out of business mean I got plenty time but not much money.  

So, I did quite a lots of drawings which costs virtually nothing.

But before this, there was an interesting discussion with

other photographers

“How we can figure out dark faint image or just a contour to

particular object ?”

“How do we know a curved one line to such as woman’s front

body or back ?”

“Is it a pattern recognition or intuitive creativity

to make-up an image ?”

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—– so, I experimented to draw the line, simplified to the limit,

no longer recognizable to any meaningful figure.  

Or figured out the minimum, still able to convey the meaning.

And found that the same line could be seen in the different meaning

or can be seen as other part of the figure.

—– strange discovery was that even if it is utterly illogical,

as long as it contain the recognizable parts, our brain

accepts it as what we normally understand as a pattern.

May be because our brain is not necessary seeing the things

(or drawing) as it is, but reconfigure it as we understand.  

Our thinking or even first-hand perception is never free

but always “Wishful” !

= We see the things as what we wants to see.

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So, the drawing above center, [Two headed woman] = our brain

accepts it as “One woman is facing front with her left hand swing back

and other woman stretching her right hand front” =

our brain never reject it all together with a reason of its 

irrationality,  but try to process each woman independently.  

Because, we are not familiar with two headed woman, the brain

ignore the conflict and stick to see it is two different woman

just happen to be in the same place, while try to think,

“She twisted her front body completely backward”.

—– So, it is a joint operation of our eyes and the brain =

the eye’s detailed vision is only the centre of our vision, about 20 degree

and the peripheral area is rather vague. = very similar phenomenon to 

selectively listen the voice among the other noise.   

(Please test it yourself  🙂 )

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The drawing right was my challenge (in the matter of imagination,

not a drawing or painting skill :-)) to Bosch who showed surrealistic

image in the hell, still never go to this kind of illogical confusion. 😀

—– Even Dalli couldn’t go beyond a crèche.

(May be from a religious restriction, God’s creation shouldn’t have

such freak.) If you see only a part of this drawing while hiding the rest,

your eyes accepts the image. —– One line could be a line of the hand

but it is also the line of the thigh etc.

Our brain ignore the part which is not taking part to configure one

image. ( —– And this is  what all about the Rorschach Inkblot Test =

pick up the pattern in a part, and make up familiar  image in the brain.)

= this function creates a monster from a vague image of a tree

in the woods. = we only pick-up the element which is enough to

configure monster and disregards the rests so, we see a monster.  

Seeing is believing — is it ?

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Some of you might see the top drawing as a kind of Hindu Goddess,

hence may be accept this image straight.   It looks strange though,

if you hide one side, it may not so strange. —– (She supposedly

sitting on a lotus flower though, I have not finished it yet.)

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With those (in fact 300 of ) drawings behind, to conceive and

configure the wire figure was not far away.  

And to draw 300 drawings in the same approach, it has to

get somewhere. = Zen would say

“Even rain drops can curve a rock ” 🙂

—– Drawing was done and each line was adjusted by way of copying

it on the light-box again and again until it become perfect (well, sort of)

so that those 300 are not 300 different images but lots of slightly

different same pictures.  = It was a process of step by step Kaizen.

If I were a real master of drawing, I could have done perfect drawing

straight though I wasn’t, I had to take slower process.

— May be draw a perfect circle looks much more like a Zen Master

though, I needed to know human perception, not a holy pretence. 🙂

And this approach gave me an opportunity to analyze how

we feel different if the line was slightly different or

the same line could be seen in different context. 

So, it was really interesting and a fun. 😀

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St.Lucia — Wire Figure — Preconception (2)

(Please see the Photo,  one eye closed = you may have better 3D view = her chest come-out front and the head looks tilted backward)

St. Lucia said to be an early martyr who lost her eyes through torture hence became a saint for vision.  Greek word Lux mean the light and the name Lucia mean light.  (I haven’t figured out the relation, her name and a sainthood, which one came first.) 

So, she is receiving God’s Annunciation (through Photoshop  🙂 ) to become a saint.

—– What so ever, this is a wire-figure I made in the same time of yet another wire figure to show how our 3D conception works,

 when it was under Preconception.    🙂

—– now it’s 21st century.   With the cultural change, even a holly woman need to have a Holiday and enjoy sun bathing.  So,  she is asking her mate  “Could you put an oil on my back”   “Bloody hell, you don’t have a back”.

—– Did you noticed, they are in fact the same figure.  Only, whether standing  on the knee or lying —– in different settings.  =  And we are seeing  it in the completely different context. 

(Do you agree ?)

(By the way, figure was made one continuous wire, starting from her ear and finishing on the arm-pit of right arm, except short additional wire on her boobs.  It was like a puzzling game, and a good fun.    😀

—– This is the most unlikely depiction of the human-body though, yet still our brain can re-configure it as a human-figure.      

Isn’t it amazing ? !!!

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PS : I’ve tested the reaction of the people how they see the Top Photo.   (Since I started to use my tablet as my photo book, when I need I show the photos of my works.  Then I noticed the differences of the people’s reaction in two types.   And another fact behind was the Google’s reaction ! — If you Google “St.Lucia, Art figure” this photo of the St.Lucis come-up on the top = They think this is an Art —– See how they react.   ? )

In fact, against to the hundreds of the people = and found, that the person who was an artist, they react to hold the breath.   And the person who is not an artist start to make questions such as “Did you made this ?”  “How big ?” or “Is it wire ?” kind = it is an intellectual response to fitting the subject into an existing pattern and categorize it. 

(it is a process to “understand” what it is)   This intellectual process  in the brain mask the bare intuitive perception in the Hippocampus where 2D vision was converted into the spatial 3D (real life) image.

A real artist grasp the image with bare subconscious and the emotion.  Though, the image is nothing but a perplexity = looks human figure but it is a twisted wire = WHAT a hell this is ? !  — brain just got confused and freeze.  Hence loose the word.

It’s mean, this figure works as a touchstone to distinguish real artist.

(If you are interested in this phenomenon, try this by showing this image to your friend and see the each reaction. — provided the person didn’t know this beforehand ) 

— A funniest reaction I ever found was, when a man  who has been asking about the material etc. realized that he was tested, suddenly started to say “Oh, this is a tree” (started to play innocent / ignorant = try pretend to be a “Non- intellectual” = but in obvious tactical way —– Artist couldn’t make such highly complexed reaction.)

— Yet funny encounter of the third kind was, a woman who asked me the material on return, then realized that it was a kind of test, started to argue, saying “Because you asked ma how do I think, so that I replied how I thought, not what I felt” —– the woman has been doing a kind of conceptual art = typical “thinking kind”. 

It was the first ever encounter to a person who started to argue about right or wrong.  I only testing to see what type of the brain, whether the person got “Intuitive” or “High level thinking” dominant brain, which would be apparent in a quick response or instant reflection, — not about right or wrong of the person.    😀

—– Then I realized, I’ve met a lots of this “kind” of person, in a protest campaign group.   Yes, they are the kind, shouting  System is wrong, the law is wrong, the official is wrong BUT only I am right !  (And funnily enough all of them said “I’m an artist” ! )  — but I’m not sure what they meant Art.

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PPS :  you might be rather confused by the explanation by “Intuitive Hippocampus” etc = Yes we are having two “Mind” (?) which we human being Did know thousands of years. = Thinking logic and the Heart. 

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Ship Stubnitz in Canary Wharf

I’ve been visiting the Ship Stubnitz many times and talked about in many posts here.

In early days she was in the King George IV dock in the east London.  Then she moved

and moored in the several different docks,  but now she is in the Canary Wharf.

(5 minutes from the Jubilee line’s Canary Wharf station).

She looks pretty impressive isn’t she.

Where to moor the ship need to have funny negotiation behind with the London

Port Authority.   And it was said to be depend on the whim of the Authority.  🙂

What so ever the story, She to be in the Canary Wharf is very convenient to us. 

(In comparison to have an awkward journey to east London, not to mention to

climb over a barbed-wire fence.  😀 ) 

So, these days many groups are using the ship for their meeting or as an event venue

and the photo above was a gathering of the video film makers = Open Video London.

And the another group, slub.org is having  Experimental Digital Sound demonstration.

( commonly known as Techno —– still, I noticed, their rhythm was pretty good.  🙂 )

If you have an image of London, as a red brick’s traditional town scape, you must be

disappointed to be lost in the grass and steel structures in the Dockland. 

Still, this is the another face of the London.

Yet, supposedly the modern concrete structure still giving strangely ancient temple

like impression. —– I like this paradox.  🙂     And this is the same feeling I’m having

from the Ship Stubnitz = 60 years old ship interior giving the SiFi like atmosphere.

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Cherry = Double-Exposure and Double-focus, Soft Images

Those photos are, what I’ve mentioned in the previous post =  Soft image of the same

Cherry blossom which were done by the Double Exposures, of which one of exposure

was completely out of focus.

—– (Please click the photo to be enlarged, and click again to see it  in full screen ! )

In fact, the weather was not what I wanted = rather windy, therefore the movement of

the subjects might have affected the results though, it was not too obvious.  

Because of the operation, while changing Focus, Zooming position, F-aperture and

shutter-speed, I only made 5 photos from the same set-up on a tripod.

Despite a quite messy operation, let alone need to use tripod, the effect is somewhat

comparable to the dedicated soft-focus lens  which I did last year using Fuji Soft focus Lens.

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PS :  Those two photos are for a comparison, as they were taken by a  simple Pinhole. 

How soft and how much the core of sharp image was retained is all about the

soft focus photography. = It’s a matter of one’s taste and the type of the subject. 

Though the Cherry blossom may not be the best subject for Pinhole photo, as

they become just messy blob.  😀 

(This image is the the best so far among the photos what I’ve created by pinhole .  🙂 )

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Perpetual Cherry in Full-Bloom !

This is the same Cherry tree appeared 4 times before in this blog  ! —– because of her

very unusual character = flowering all through the year ! 

(Obviously, her internal clock is also working normal.)

As in the real season, she is now in full bloom, and I’m so glad to see her full dress-up.

So, I guess this might be the same feeling of seeing a daughter in her wedding dress.  🙂

(Though, I have no child, it is only a guess.)

When the nature is in its full bloom, that is where their beauty lies. 

We may not need to add any further decoration. =

straight shot, which shows just what it is, might be all we need to do.   —– still, I’m

thinking to make yet another attempt of pinhole photo or double-exposure kind.

(Before flower finish, and a calm, no wind weather permitted ! )

It is not for the sake of the beauty of the flower but the sake of soft-focus photography.  

It’s my Ego, Sir.     Ha ha ha   😀

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Soft Effect by Double-Exposure = Cherry Blossom

This is yet another attempt to create an effect of  “Fire-fly floating in the air”  like image in the

Cherry blossom photo.  I think, this technique is better than Vaseline on the fish-eye lens  🙂

Cherry tree is the same one as before but after few days, it’s having more flowers.  

And the photography was done by double exposure with flashlight while changing the

focus and F-aperture.   (Hence, large halo of bokhe appeared around the center image.)

(Once, this technique was used by Minolta in their Portrait Mode by shifting the focus

during the exposure,  in order to give a soft effect )

This photo was in fact the first attempt with primary lens  (Canon EF 20 mm F2.8) ——

The trouble in double exposure while changing the focus is = the size of images also change. 

Hence, the off-focused image radially spread out of focused image.  = To compensate this,

I used the Zoom Lens (Canon EF 24~70 mm F2.8) so that, top two (it’s the same photo but just

clopped) photos, focused image and off-focused image was not exactly the same focal length.

—– it’s a nightmarish operation = to remember the same size on the view-finder,  yet still

a devil wind blow the flowers off position etc etc.  😀  😀

So, it was a fun with a lots of unpredictable elements and human-error.   

Life is a fun in deed.   Ha ha ha  😀

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Soft Focus Fisheye Images — Early Cherry Blossom

This Cherry opens its flowers much early than most of the others (Somei-yoshino variety),

so that, I think this is the Yama-zakura (Mountain Cherry) which is the same variety, 

I posted the photos before as [ Early Cherry Blossom ],  last year.

I wanted to photograph this flowers like fire-fly floating in the air.  Hence, use of  soft focus lens,

and a flash-light under the dim evening sky.   So, I put soft filter onto my Fish-eye lens though,

the effect was not enough. = I may need to try again with different tactics.  🙂

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Soft Focus Fisheye Image

My quest to the soft image, I tried a kind of soft  filter  onto my fish-eye lens.

= In fact, it was like a Vaseline on the lens and it was aimed to take photo of Cherry Blossom,

which you will see in the next post.

I think it wasn’t too bad.  I like double-density pinhole more though, pinhole on DSLR

wouldn’t give us wide angle image, so, this make-shift filter is a temporally alternative.

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Boob Job = It works for Bottom as well !

This wire-mesh sculpture is called Nike after the Nike of Samothraki  hence she got no

head, and the wings which are going to be mounted on its vertical shafts (and flaps !),

haven’t been finished yet.    As this figure has been hanged from the ceiling nearly

10 years,  visitors include the builders who came to fit the windows, wondered how

I made this. —– I always made a joke it was done by Shiatsu = just push by fingers = the

more I push, her boob grow larger and larger.   😀

Wire mesh is not a soft iron.   Rather hard to shape by the finger alone though,  as this flat

is just for ordinary residents,  I can’t make a noise by hammering. 

So that, what I invented was [Boob Enhancer] = place a wire-mesh between the caps or

small bowl and give a strong pressure to form a cup.   It worked amazingly  well.   😀

For this purpose,  I bought many different size of cups — large one can be used to shape

the bottoms as well. (I haven’t figured out which one is human equivalent of  D-cup yet.  :-))

Original tool was a kind of DIY cramp,  but it was used reverse direction = instead to push, 

the bar is pulling,  hence pulling the wire-mesh inward or to see from out-side,  a boob was

pulled out from the flat chest. = Therefore it is literally Boob Enhancer.   😀 

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As I wrote in the post  Supponpon (Aluminum panel sculpture), to design and to have

appropriate tool is essential,  especially if it was for a totally new kind of technique.  

And to conceive the idea to design,  open-eyed free thinking is the must.

Cramp was already there and most of the work has been done by the manufacturer,  hence

a small modification was what all I needed. 

—– without this tool, my wire-mesh sculpture couldn’t be the same.

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