Definition by You

Kenzo's latest window display at Takashimaya, Orchard. Could it be an example of juxtaposition or surrealism?

Or probably a solution of cost saving for the mannequin head? To depict a kind of E.T? Head was eaten by the tiger? 

Whatever it is, beauty is in the eye of beholder. The audience defines the beauty of an art. Art, is still an art, regardless of whether you think it's beautiful or ugly.

One Kind of Japanese Art

Shunga (spring pictures) is the Japanese term for erotic paintings, which were very famous especially in the late 19^th century of Japanese art history. Shunga usually depicts a variety of lovemaking techniques, situations and possibilities, demonstrating the diversity of sexual behaviors, either heterosexual or homosexual. Most of the shunga produced have a common feature of tendency to exaggerate the size of the genital organs. The influence of Western culture started at the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912), whereby figures began to appear wearing Western clothing and hairstyles (as shown in the pictures below).

Chinese Expression

China is one of the oldest civilization. It was one of the most advanced societies in the world but through imperialism and civil wars, it began to decline. These are some examples of graphic design in China of the early 20th century, usually playing with simple shapes and contrasting colours, which we can find in the magazines, posters and book covers.

Imagination VS Reality

Michal Trpak, a Czech artist, likes to install his sculptures almost exclusively in public places. He aims to create a dialogue between public life, the surrounding architecture and sculptures. For example, one of his famous artwork, 'Slight Uncertainty', was installed in an office building in Prague. These figures are hung holding umbrellas. They seems like flying, indecisive of landing.

Another famous art piece from Trpak, 'Escape into Reality', combines painting with sculpture. It was made of cement, wood and acrylic paint. I like the combination of 2D and 3D form to depict the real and virtual world. Trpak said that, 'It is hard to find a boundary between real and virtual,' he assumes that boundary doesn't exist.

Fantasy I: A Conversation with Stone

My life is full of unexpected  events, mostly extraordinary. Last summer, I went to BB Island for vacation. I was walking along the beach and accidentally fell down after hitting a stone. 

‘What is wrong with you, man!’ Someone shouted at me but I did not see any people around me.

‘It’s me talking to you, call me Stone Little!’

OMG, it was a stone trying to talk with me. I swore that it was a tiny stone talking to me. He told me that he wanted badly to be human if he has a choice. As a human, we can travel to any place in the world. We can read and write, we create things. We have feelings, and the most wonderful thing he wishes to have, is the love among human. He thinks that love is the most precious thing human own, but he wonders why human seldom appreciate it. There are cases of suicide, people hurting people, endless wars and etc.

However, stone, do you know that you are eternal? You are valuable, that people would pay dollars to buy you for your beauty.

Stone replied, 'Sometimes, people is cheated by his eyes. People values the beauty of the appearance, but forget about the inner beauty.'

I brought Stone Little back to Singapour. However, he never talk since then.

The Circle

Captured by an American photographer, Rob Herr, 'The Circle of Leaf' well represents a life cycle of human. Life is journey to treasure, we shall cherish every moment with the people we love until the time to say 'goodbye', who knows, one day there will be another journey for us, where we will reunite, again.

Beautiful Eyes

The eyes are the windows to the soul.

“To thee I do commend my watchful soul, 
Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes.” - William Shakespeare.

Human eyes are something honest, they represent a person’s inner self, feelings and emotions. When a person trying to tell a lie, he tends to look away because the eyes easily reveal a great amount of guilt. For an enthusiastic person, you can see his eyes filled with passionate sparks.

I always think that human, all of us have similar eyes, except for the colours, until I found the fantastic photography by Suren Manvelyan. In fact, everyone has a different set of lines, dots and colours in the iris.

Manvelyan has done a series of close-ups of the human eyes, themed ‘Your Beautiful Eyes’, whereby he gained popularity. They were published by National Geographic, Yahoo!, The Sun, Daily Mail, and many others. In this series, he captured the great details of eyes through vivid and up-close photographs, showing the real textures that lie below corneas. These textures differ by person. They somehow look like the surface of an unknown planet.

Well, what can you see from these eyes, can you feel the soul beneath?