For those of you wondering what in the hell you're looking at, well, it's a piece produced by blogger, designer and illustrator Jude Buffum. (I mentioned him earlier today in this post.)
In the description that accompanies this image on the artist's Flickr page, Buffum says he "chose to focus on the erotic fantasies of abalone divers that are quite popular within the art form known as 'shunga.'"
He also mentions that the piece is an homage to Utamaro's "Underwater Assault."
See more of Buffum's stuff here.
11 comments:
I'm not sure I like Jude's work, he's making my nice innocent escape-worlds into the regular boring world.. :/
Oh, but that's why I *like* his work -- although I wouldn't quite describe it the way you did :)
I see, well I often play games to get away from the stuff I don't like - so when it creeps into those worlds as well I'm bound to whine about it. ;)
Oh, i agree with you when you say you play games to get away from the real world. Still, I like how artist's like Jude try to bring that fantasy life you and I are so familiar with into the real world.
It's completely OK if you're not a fan, though -- we're all allowed to have our opinions here :)
To bring video games out here is cool with me, as long as it's on the games terms. Like.. I would love more video game characters in different materials out in the streets and everywhere (put there by gamers just for fun) but when we just make the characters go at it (sex fixation) or eat them (meat eating) I tend to loose interest a bit.
By the way, what is "pearls that you iron so that they stick together and form images" called in english? The direct translation from swedish is pearlplates but that CAN'T be the right word! :D Anyway, I make a lot of those.
I think it's kind of an interesting juxtaposition of art forms. The pixelization is great!
Starfighter: I hear what you're saying, though I don't think of these two pieces as being as simple as having game characters go at it, etc.
This 'Utamaro Bros.' piece, for instance, is an homage to a rather ancient and famous style of art. The fact that is is a Japanese style of art is interesting, too -- as is the juxtaposition of that traditional (and racy) style of art with the more modern and mainstream (e.g., family-friendly) game art.
I'm not trying to change your opinion or anything, I just want you to know where I'm coming from and why I find Jude's art interesting. I think there are multiple, interesting layers to it that haven't always been explored before.
Oh, and one more thing: I know what you're talking about with the "pearls," but I'm not sure of the English name for it either! I think it may be called "pearl art," though. Anyway, yes, I like that kind of stuff, too :)
Justin: You took the words right out of my mouth! It's definitely an interesting juxtaposition of art forms, IMO.
The Yoshi art, while humorous on a superficial level, is similarly fascinating to me, as it's referencing more technical "art" (in this case, meat diagrams). Again, it's all about juxtaposition :)
Well, I have to say that if you look at it that way (which I obviously did not) it's more interesting! I've never had an eye for art, so most of the time I can't put pieces in context. I don't mind you changing my opinion, I love to be educated! And I don't really like when people dismiss things as bad just because they don't understand it and that was probably what I just did. :)
Well, I have to say, Starfighter, that it's completely OK to not like a piece of art -- whether you understand it or not. Also, who's to say my reading of the piece is actually how the artist intended it to be read?
Anyway, thanks for the conversation. I love reading comments like yours (and Justin's and everyone else's) and responding to them :)
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