In this article on my other blog I explain about my photo in the Art Byte Critique Anniversary Exhbition, “10” and how it marks the beginning of my mushroom obsession.
Click the link to read more about my first foray into mushrooms and art.
Other Mushroom Art I’ve done
Here’s a quick annotated overview of some other mushroom pieces I’ve created:
MaiNichiMushroom Magazine series (zines): I wrote a middle grade mystery and serialized it in this zine series. There is a planned total of 15 issues. Each issue covers a different facet of mushrooms knowledge.
There are three stop-motion videos of displaying different books.
Macro photography of mushrooms: In this Art Byte Critique group exhibition called In The Details, I examined mushroom gills and how this tiny form reminded me of giant geographical features.
I love a peek behind the curtain. Art Byte Critique is having their tenth anniversary exhibition called “10” at Launch Pad Gallery in Yokohama.
I think installing a show is a lot of fun. A solo show can have a meditative feeling as long as everything goes to plan. 😉 But a group show has a totally different vibe. The energy of a group of people working together to achieve a vision in a short time can be addictive. Add the professionalism and teamwork of ABC members and art life is a lot of fun.
Art Byte Critique member Deanna Gabiga, who is doing intriguing wire sculptures, organized the show for us and did an amazing job! During the install, she also did the hard work of taking a time-lapse video which compressed the 2 hours into a five minute video.
Time Lapse Video of Art Byte Critique’s “10”
I wrote a blog post on my “official” website which you can check out here.
SHOW DETAILS
Launch Pad Gallery is less than 10 minutes away from Ishikawa Cho station on the Keihin Tohoku Negishi Line. But Launch Pad Gallery has more detailed information for other train lines. For those who like to do their own map navi, the street address is:
5-186-8 ISHIKAWACHO, YOKOHAMA 045-641-1511
FRI-MON 13:00~19:00/ 金-月 13:00-19:00 (the gallery is closed Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)
The first time I met Odding was at the Sequential Art Meetup in July, but we never got a chance to talk. During the set-up for the Monogatari exhibition at Tokyo Chapter in October, we discovered we had a lot in common–especially coffee and mushrooms. Odding’s delicate graphite images for her Monogatari contribution, “Here,” add a wonderful facet to the amazing artwork in the issue. Checkout the Q &A with Odding below.
How long have your been making sequential art?
For decades, since I was around 5 or 6.
What do you like about sequential art compared to other forms of expression?
I think sequential art opens up many possibilities, comparing to single frame images, since it brings fragments of time in itself; Comparing to moving images like movies or animation, it gives the reader freedom of setting your own pace; Comparing to literature, like novels or poetry, sometimes it speaks more with less words or even only visual elements. I like all the above forms as well but I think sequential art definitely has its own unique charm and more potential to be explored.
What inspired your story for Monogatari?
“Here” was about a real story, well, it wasn’t even a story, just a little fragment of memories, when I first moved to my current place and found this little old motsuyaki store, run by a small old lady with (probably) her son, the lady was always smiling and I could tell that she was a very honest and sweet person. One day I noticed a bamboo dragonfly on top of the shelf in the store and she realized that I was interested in it, so she took it down and let me play with it. Back then I couldn’t speak any Japanese, so our communication was basically gestures and smiles. I’m always fascinated with old places and old people, and this kind of little stories always brings me lots of warmth at heart.
What are you most proud of in your story?
I’m proud of its honesty, even though it was a mixture of reality and imagination. The point is whenever I read it myself, I can still feel the same kind of warmth as I did in the little store.
What was the biggest challenge in making your story?
Telling the story without words would be one of the biggest challenges, as I did in my other stories too. I was worried that readers won’t be able to fully understand it, but actually they don’t even have to. The story itself is beyond language barrier, and I think I’m quite satisfied with it. Another challenge would be fitting the artwork into A5 size space without losing much details, and I think the editor and printers did a good job on that.
Do you have any favorite stories or sequential artists that you recommend to readers?
My all time favourite would be Chris Ware, then Jon McNaught, whose way of storytelling kind of inspired “Here”. Besides those two, I’d also recommend Lisa Hanawalt and Nick Drnaso. For books I recommend “The Photographer” by Didier Lefèvre and Emmanuel Guibert; and “Here” by Richard McGuire (Haha my story in Monogatari has nothing to do with this book).
Where can people find out more about your work?
You can check out: www.oddingwang.com, or follow me on Instagram: @odding
It’s been a productive time behind the scenes and now the fun stuff! I have three exhibitions coming up in the next couple weeks. Two are group exhibitions and the other is my first SOLO show!
I’ll be posting more about each show in the future, but for now, this is the schedule.
Inside pages from Laundry Dog, a bean book of silver gelatin prints.
Cover of Laundry Dog.
A happy customer for MaiNichi ushroom.
Letterpress. I might have a new obsession.
Crows. Embossed cover.
Happy to see my book Crows go to a good home!
My fellow Art Byte Critique Members for TABF2016
My assortment of mame bon (bean books).
Foxey working hard to promote MaiNichiMushroom
Bumble. I think it’s my favorite this year.
Inside view of crows.
Another Tokyo Art Book Fair has come and gone. Really proud of my fellow Art Byte Critiquers for their hard work. Loved their books and it’s so much fun to work with them.
I’m still really interested in creating mame bon. Mame bon translates to bean books, so called because of their small size. My friend kindly described my books as objets, and I was really happy to hear that. I want people to treat them as objects that they can look at and fiddle with and enjoy. I had a few other ideas for books that I wasn’t able to complete for this fair but I’m quite happy with my books this year. Bumble is probably my favorite book. I really like bees and this photo collection of bumble bees and lavender is actually quite cute. My ultimate favorite is the zine MaiNichi Mushroom. Lots of people were interested in MaiNichi Mushroom and some copies were sold. Foxey did a great job to promote the magazine.
What I probably enjoy most is watching people interact with my books. Of course it’s great when they buy them, but I also enjoy watching people pick up the books, discuss them with friends and walk away with a smile. It’s especially flattering to have someone by a book at TABF because there are so many great books for people to choose from!
The last two years I usually did interviews before the fair to promote their work and the fair. This year we were all working up until the deadline and had no time. But I really want to share their work with you so look for artist interviews in the next few weeks.
Tomorrow I will post about a couple of the books I bought. It’s too dark now to take photos that would do the books justice.
If you went to TABF this year, please comment and let me know what you thought of the fair this year. If you have any questions about my books, don’t hesitate to ask!
The Zinesmate Tokyo Art Book Fair 2016 starts next week (Sept 16th)and I’m frantically trying to get my books done in time.
I’ve decided to make fewer books this year but I’m enjoying my projects.
Here is a sneak peak at the contents of one of my mamebon (bean-books, so called because of their small size). This book will be 5cmx5cm when finished. This is the screen shot of the photos to be printed.
I really like bees for some reason. I suppose it’s because I now understand how important they are for the environment. Still haven’t gotten over my fear of wasps and hornets. Baby steps. I haven’t seen many bees around my neighbourhood in Tokyo this year. Other years I’ve seen many bees around the hollyhocks and cosmos. This year? Not so much. Occasionally I’d find bees enjoying the lavender I planted.
Anyway, it’s back to work. I’ll post more info on the time and date of the TABF 2016 this weekend.
If you’re going to be at the TABF, drop me a line. I’ll be with Art Byte Critique again this year.
This week’s photo challenge is harmony. I loved the sheet music image for the challenge post. Fascinating way to see someone’s creative thought.
I can play piano but I’m not really a musician so I was glad to see the other elements of harmony written in the challenge, “the quality of forming a pleasing and consistent whole.”
And my first thought was cookies and coffee. Pairs that go together. I suppose that is more of a duet. Then I thought of photographing my yarns, exploring the harmonies in the color palettes.
Then I saw this image I took late last fall. I like the composition of the image, the consistent whole I see there. And though I prefer my photos to stand on their own merit, without having to explain the image, the harmony of this photo come from the fact that I took it while I was jogging around my neighbourhood. This is a cute little shrine not so far from my house but I had never seen it before.
The weather was pretty good, though a bit overcast, but I then fact that I could combine exercise, discovery and some photography is really an ultimate kind of harmony for me.
Walking to Jiyugaoka in the rain. It’s cold but I’m dressed warmly and have waterproof foot ware. I’m a bit bored so I play some music, but what to play on a rainy-misty day? It’s cold and gray and then I see these tulips outside a local flower shop in Okusawa.
And the answer hits me, this is Chopin weather, Nocturne No.1 in B Flat Minor Op 1-9.
Chopin is one of my favorites. Mozart can be exhausting and Beethoven can be too dramatic though I like both composers. I soon realized I didn’t own any recordings by Chopin. When I went to iTunes, there were heaps of choices. But what to buy? For interest sake I researched who was the best Chopin interpreter and enjoyed this link: http://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=6430.0
It’s really far beyond my scope of true appreciation and discernment but I enjoyed the discussion and is how I decided to buy recordings by Dang Thai Son.
So back to the tulips and the inspiration to play Chopin. The music was complex, soothing and the perfect balance of contemplation and energy.
I recommend this as your soundtrack for rainy day walking in Tokyo.
Marukobashi and the September 2015 Supermoon (and a bit of train blur)
It’s an unassuming little bridge connecting Kanagawa-Ken to southwestern Tokyo spanning the Tamagawa but Marukobashi has nice arches, a wide pedestrian walkway and some nice lighting. The fact that the sky is relatively open compared to the rest of Tokyo is makes it a logical choice for trying to capture the September supermoon while it was still low in the sky.
I ran home after work, packed my bag and cycled to the bridge. It wasn’t until I was half-way there that I remembered I would be cycling home in the dark and I’d forgotten my flashlight. Too late to turn back and since the fine is $500 for riding without a bike light (though not always enforced) the fact that my route went by two police stations meant I’d be walking my bike back. Luckily, that was the only mishap.
Timeanddate.com gave me the time and direction of moonrise. The compass app on my phone pointed me in the right direction. I crossed the bridge into Kanagawa, set up and waited. Sunday night was the eclipse and event though I couldn’t see it in Japan, I’d been pouring over the postings in Flickr and drooling with envy. I particularly liked a photo by Jeffrey Sullivan which was taken this April and you can see here. He was generous enough to give some great info on his shot and some technical aspects of photographing the moon. Somewhere during my perusing I learned about the 500 rule. The 500 rule helps you get nice crispy shots of the moon by determining the longest exposure you can make based on your lens before movement of the moon and the stars blurs the shot (assuming your tripod is sturdy).
500 Divided By the Focal Length of Your Lens = The Longest Exposure (in Seconds) Before Stars Start to “Trail”
There is a great explanation of this at Petapixel.
To my great relief, there were hardly any clouds on Monday compared to my shoot at Tateyama Castle in Chiba the night before. And when that moon peeped over Marukobashi, I was literally jumping up and down. Which required a quick explanation to a family walking past. And here are a few of my shots.
The Tokyo Art Book Fair is nine days away. This is the second in a series of interviews with fellow Art Byte Critique members to introduce their work and talk about the show.
Name:Karin Gunnarsson (Nomura) From: Sweden Time in Japan: 16 months Education: MA Photography Royal College of Art London Occupation: Artist and Japanese Language Student
How long have you been making books?
This is the first artist book that I am showing in public. As for developing the craft I have in the past made hardcover notebooks.
What is your favorite kind of books to make?
I get a great sense of achievement in making a hardcover handbound book.
Plato’s Plates by Karin Gunnarsson
Do you have favorite materials to use?
I like a book that is interesting and feel exclusive to the touch. The Plato’s Plates book is all in paper with subtle tactile variety, as this was the most suitable option for the project. But I am really fond of using a textile on the cover and a contrasting paper texture and colour for the cover pages inside.
What is the biggest challenge for you when you make a book?
Not rushing
What kind of books are you making for this fair?
I am making one hardcover handbound book in a limited signed and numbered edition and one saddlestitched simpler version of the same book. The book is called Plato’s Plates and tells a story of transformation and transcendence through a character in a punctured paper suit.
Image from Plato’s Plates by Karin Gunnarsson
Do you have any advice for people coming to the book fair?
Based on my experience as a visitor last year; allow plenty of time for your visit, comfortable shoes, a strategic plan to navigate the fair and take plenty of breaks as it is quite overwhelming to see so many beautiful and inspiring books. And of course plenty of change and that extra note for that very special object of desire.
Time and Location Details The Tokyo Art Book Fair is held from September Saturday 19 – Monday 21 (holiday)
at Kyoto University of Art and Design, Tohoku University of Art and Design GAIEN CAMPUS
1-7-15 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
HOURS:
Saturday: 3-9
Sunday: 12-8
Monday: 11-7
You can read about Art Byte Critique artist Lyle Nisenholz here.
The Spendy Pencil 