Here's a dose of art inspiration! I actually stumbled on Takato Yamamoto's work through The Long Hair Community when I saw someone in the forums with a really pretty icon. This turned out to be the Alice in Wonderland piece at the bottom of this post.
What I love about these paintings is a combination of their intricacy, fairy tale style, and muted colour palettes. Just to warn you ahead of a Google search for more of his work, Yamamoto uses a lot of gory, sexual, and bondage imagery. I prefer the more delicate and peaceful or slightly spooky images. My favourites are scenarios depicting dark forests. All of his work has a rich atmosphere, but the woodland scenes are especially captivating and play up elements of enchantment and mystery and darkness.
I have always loved fairy tales because they work on warped logic. Things are not what they seem, and everything can bend into something unexpected. Yamamoto's work captures that spirit with every line.
[EDIT: It has been brought to my attention by commenter 'Disgruntled Lizard' that the piece above is actually by Pixiv member 'Chillalee', a Chinese artist studying in France. The original post can be found here. I'm sorry for the prior misattribution. Let's celebrate Chillalee's work as well.]
Oh my gosh these are amazing. To have a brilliant mind like this- sigh. These are so beautiful to look at.
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Jenny // Mish Mosh Makeup
They're pretty wondrous, right? :-)
DeleteI had seen his artwork on Tumblr many times before but never knew the artist name. I prefer his spooky bondage imagery side but still appreciate the fantasy side. Clicking on each of these images I notice the intricate detail you speak of even more thanks much for this post! I hope this note finds you well. I'm just now catching up on reading blog entries.
ReplyDeleteThe detail is just phenomenal, totally opposite to my own work which is so full of big brush strokes and scribbly lines. Thanks for reading!
DeleteAaaa!! love!!! him!! I did a mood board of his work back in June!
ReplyDeletehttp://bethanyroselamont.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/takato-yamamoto-nsfw.html
I'm a huge fan of the ero guro genre (like its one of my fave visual culture things like ever?) so I love his more violent stuff too but I think the fantasy of fairytale books and that of extravagant gore and erotics are not so different! Death, day dreams and orgasms are all kinda interchangable once yoou squint and tilt your head a bit ya know? :) Though saying that my current fave artist is John Alcorn (who I think you'd love too!!) who is super psychadelic and colourful and is just like really cute 1960s pepsi posters so I dunno...I love everything basically!!
XOX
Now you mention it I remember that post! Yeah it's interesting, sexuality is a part of so much and is comparable to lots of things that are either exciting or morbid or whatever... like you say, the extravagance of things links them together. And of course sex and violence or otherwise disturbing things are very much connected and pushed together culturally, socially. I think I gravitate towards non- or less sexual media because it's my preferred escapism. Sex and sexuality is something I'm very private about and the constant barrage of sexual or grossly over sexualised and false media pushes me towards very unsexual things I think. And so much of sexuality isn't something visible, so the intense visual interpretations of sexuality and sex in art and TV and everything kinda make me feel like........ idk like it's refreshing and energising for me to enjoy things that lack obvious sex. I feel trapped looking at sexual imagery a lot of the time so I tend to gravitate towards that lack of sexual stuff.
DeleteJohn Alcorn is p. cool, I've definitely seen his stuff around before. Reminds me of Eline a bit :-)
Aaaa I posted a reply and the google ate it?! Nooo! But yes I totally agree! I also find the sex positive movement on the interwebs kinda....lacking a bit. It just doesn't really interest me! I think ero guro is the exception for me as it goes beyond the straight forward desirable into something messier and weirder, and in doing so is more in alignment with my love of bugs and body horror as much as anything else! Speaking of body horror are you still into horror manga? I am still on parasyte as its so very, very long but I am greedy and you have good taste so I always want recommendations!!! XOX
DeleteYes I definitely feel alienated from the sex positive movement. Even that term annoys me, like everyone who disagrees with it in some way must be sex negative, or a PRUDE or something. Bugs are so cool idk why I love bugs but I really do. I used to collect snails from my garden and "look after them" which basically meant watching them poo in a box.
DeleteI haven't read anything since Parasyte but have you read Pet Shop of Horrors? It was one of my earliest introductions to manga & anime and it was such a well done kinda fable-ish horror series! With animals! I might try starting a few different manga things soon and do a first impressions post or something like that! I always want to stick to one thing at a time and read it all though.
I KNOW! It's so like fixed, like either you are reblogging riot grrrl aesthetic pictures of vibrators or whatever or you're sex negative?! like why positive and negative? isn't it more nuanced than that?! Aaa I used to keep woodlice, they were so beautiful, I kinda miss them :'')))
DeleteOooh I haven't read pet shop of horrors but Ive been meaning to and your recommendation gives me the motivation to do so so yay!!! :D
XOX
My middle school had a spinney. We weren't allowed in there but I would go in to be alone with the woodlice who occupied a big piece of rotting wood. I felt so calm with them. I genuinely felt they were like my family, and I would just sit and watch them. Some of the happiest times of my childhood, right there.
DeleteHello there! In looking at those post, I've found that the third piece of artwork here (featuring the white-haired male) is credited to Yamamoto, when it in fact is a piece by a modern artist under the name "Chillalee". Here is the original image source.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=28701537
Oh no... thank you so much, I had no idea! So sorry for the incorrect information. I'll edit this post to include this. Looking at it now I can't believe I didn't think anything of the watermark in the corner... ahh how embarrassing.
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