Spotlight: Vagabond (Takehiko Inoue)

Vagabond is a Japanese historical fiction comic about the life and travels of Miyamoto Musashi. I know Japanese comics have a weird connotation of either being super girly (magical girls and talking animals) or for man-children (ninjas vs. pirates), and yeah, I read those too, but Vagabond is really a special work of its own.

The story is superb. It's primarily about Miyamoto Musashi and his journey to become "Invincible under the Sun." Why? Well, that's also part of the journey. As he matures, he realizes what it really means to be such a man. The sword fighting is brutally realistic but balanced with the characters' thoughts on how their lives revolve around it. This isn't a "save the world from evil" kind of plot. It's just people living how they can in a very rough time in history. Every character is genuine with their own history.



The art is wonderful, no exaggeration. It's the sort that makes me both sad with envy and jealously motivated. It's starts off mainly using pen but later moves into more and more brushwork and washes. Words can't do it justice, so you'll have to settle for these pictures or looking up more for yourself.


It's very philosophical for a comic. The funny thing is, I felt like a lot of what was being said about swordsmanship and life also reflected art. Although that may not be a coincidence since Musashi demonstrated great artistry in his later years.

One of my favorite parts like this was Musashi trying to cut through a snowman with a twig. After some reflection, he trusts in the tool rather than his own conceptions. "There... I feel it in my fingertips. The weight of the twig." His movements start to change and at that moment he remarks, "I can't help but smile" as he cuts through the snowman.

I've had that feeling before, probably discovering a new way to hold a brush or such, so seeing it reflected in such a way was a surprise and a joy. I also had to smile.

Spotlight - Destino

Disney + Dali = ???

Now if only they'd do more like this.

Spotlight - Magnetic Movie

Magnetic Movie from Semiconductor on Vimeo.

"In Magnetic Movie, Semiconductor have taken the magnificent scientific visualisations of the sun and solar winds conducted at the Space Sciences Laboratory and Semiconducted them. Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt of Semiconductor were artists-in-residence at SSL. Combining their in-house lab culture experience with formidable artistic instincts in sound, animation and programming, they have created a magnetic magnum opus in nuce, a tour de force of a massive invisible force brought down to human scale, and a "very most beautiful thing.""

Beautiful, indeed.

More info on the creators here.

Artist Spotlight - Felice Varini

If you ever needed an artist to mess with your sense of perspective, it's Felice Varini. He's a Swiss artist who works in painting large-scale environments to be seen from a single point. The above photo is in no way digitally manipulated. Here's the same work from a different angle:

As usual, the whole "But is it art?" debate crops up among critics and scholars. I'll keep my thoughts on that long-running issue to another post, but in Varini's particular case, I'd say the he's putting a twist or even reversal of the traditional trompe-l'œil. Instead of 3D illusion on a 2D plane, it's a 2D illusion on a 3D environment. Especially in this time of computers and digital art, when his work is viewed on the internet, the initial reaction is usually a disbelieving "Why is that photoshopped on there?"

For more his website is here (in French.) After you select a work, click on "hors point de vue" for other points of view.

Artist Spotlight - Jung Kwang

"I never hurt anyone by my actions. I am a Buddhist mop. A mop is something that gets dirty itself but makes everything it touches clean."

Jung Kwang is a Korean Buddhist monk who practices what he calls "unlimited action." Unlike the traditional monk, he gambles, has sex, swears, goes where he pleases, etc. and does so without any sense of remorse or guilt. Literally having "no limits." Jung Kwang in no way encourages others to do the same, but says that in doing so he serves true Buddhism to remind others of their own habits and patterns.

He applies "unlimited action" to art as well, being described as in a sort of drunken trance, before suddenly descending upon the paper in a whirlwind of focus.

"Look at that line. It is the line of enlightenment. There is only one line like that in the universe, and it will never be made again. You cannot think to make such a line and succeed; it must come from having no limits to your action of painting the line."

I only happened to find out about Jung Kwang when I picked up a small, grey unmarked book "The Mad Monk" in the library (ND 2073.6 .Z8 J862). I'm very fond of his word puzzles. His intention to create a dialogue of actions was something I understood very well. It wasn't "good" versus "bad," just action and reaction. And if he stumps you, then you have something more to think about. If you answer back, then he smiles and starts again. He lives as he paints as he practices. If only we could all be so lucky.

"But Jung-Kwang, I'm only half-done."

"Which half? Quick, show me."

Artist Spotlight - Zdzisław Beksiński

Beksinski was a polish painter whose work was often seen as grotesque but morbidly fascinating. He's been compared to H.R. Giger before, but I believe Giger's work to have a more metallic, machine feel to them compared to Beksinski's hyper-organic figures and landscapes.

Personally, I like that even though they have a haunting feeling about them, some (like the above) have a sense of humor or sometimes even a bit of hope. They're interesting themes to put together. I'm currently working on a series of mythological creatures, so maybe I'll draw on this style with the more horrifying ones.

When Beksinski was found murdered in his home, some of us joked that his creations had finally come to life and done him in. We laughed, but nervously.

...just don't visit his website before you go to sleep.