Lachlan's blog post 3
Blog Post 3:
Hey everyone! Lachlan here to once again talk about my research on Ukiyo-e prints and other experiences in Japan, and more specifically in Tokyo. Since last time I have had time to experience some Ukiyo-e prints in the Tokyo National Museum. Unfortunately with the Japanese presentations and other university-related work I have not been able to see all I had planned to see. Although I have been able to see some street art that I believe has been expanded from the Ukiyo-e style from exploring various places in Tokyo.
To understand why Ukiyo-e had an interesting and unique style you had to understand how it was made. Ukiyo-e is made much like a multi-layered stamp. Pieces of wood are carved with the desired outline, ink is then applied to that wood and a piece of paper is pressed onto these wooden pieces to create an outline. This process is then repeated multiple times with different colours and wood blocks until the desired piece is created. Hence, why Ukiyo-e is referred to as woodblock prints. This creation made a limitation on how Ukiyo-e could be expressed since it was made much like multiple stamped painting. Overall, this production allowed for Ukiyo-e to have its unique style. Gradient colours were limited as the production time would take far to long and be far to complex. The flat or depthlessness of Ukiyo-e was hard for stamps to represent unlike graphite or oil paints of the western world. Finally, the thicker, heavy and dark outlines that Ukiyo-e have are a result of the main and first woodblock that the artist use. In conclusion, the reason that Ukiyo-e has its own unique style as opposed to main other arts is because of how it was created and the limitations artists had to work around.
Today I believe that the style of Ukiyo-e is still being explored, although not in the traditional way. With the advancement in technology and the continued growth of interest in post-modernism, I believe that Ukiyo-e has been explored in these post-modern ways. I was able to visit the Teamlab visual art museum in Odaiba. As a side note, I would highly recommend going to Teamlab, it is one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. Teamlab is a museum that uses many lights, mirrors, and sensors to create a moving exhibit on the floors and walls. There are many different colours and some of the exhibits are even intractable. Teamlab also likes Ukiyo-e had a very big focus on nature and landscapes. Exhibits featured many different animals as well trying to represent parts of nature. For example, a whole area was dedicated to big behind a waterfall. Teamlab although using lights had a very interesting flatness that I thought was very similar to Ukiyo-e, the only difference being that Teamlab used lights as a medium instead of a print.
I would still like to explore other types of modern art and see if I can find traces of Ukiyo-e in them. Hopefully, I will have more time to visit museums and get a better sense of the Japanese style. Thank you for reading about my findings! I do very strongly recommend that you visit Teamlab if you have time. As well please let me know if you have any recommendation for art museums. :)
Hey everyone! Lachlan here to once again talk about my research on Ukiyo-e prints and other experiences in Japan, and more specifically in Tokyo. Since last time I have had time to experience some Ukiyo-e prints in the Tokyo National Museum. Unfortunately with the Japanese presentations and other university-related work I have not been able to see all I had planned to see. Although I have been able to see some street art that I believe has been expanded from the Ukiyo-e style from exploring various places in Tokyo.
To understand why Ukiyo-e had an interesting and unique style you had to understand how it was made. Ukiyo-e is made much like a multi-layered stamp. Pieces of wood are carved with the desired outline, ink is then applied to that wood and a piece of paper is pressed onto these wooden pieces to create an outline. This process is then repeated multiple times with different colours and wood blocks until the desired piece is created. Hence, why Ukiyo-e is referred to as woodblock prints. This creation made a limitation on how Ukiyo-e could be expressed since it was made much like multiple stamped painting. Overall, this production allowed for Ukiyo-e to have its unique style. Gradient colours were limited as the production time would take far to long and be far to complex. The flat or depthlessness of Ukiyo-e was hard for stamps to represent unlike graphite or oil paints of the western world. Finally, the thicker, heavy and dark outlines that Ukiyo-e have are a result of the main and first woodblock that the artist use. In conclusion, the reason that Ukiyo-e has its own unique style as opposed to main other arts is because of how it was created and the limitations artists had to work around.
Today I believe that the style of Ukiyo-e is still being explored, although not in the traditional way. With the advancement in technology and the continued growth of interest in post-modernism, I believe that Ukiyo-e has been explored in these post-modern ways. I was able to visit the Teamlab visual art museum in Odaiba. As a side note, I would highly recommend going to Teamlab, it is one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. Teamlab is a museum that uses many lights, mirrors, and sensors to create a moving exhibit on the floors and walls. There are many different colours and some of the exhibits are even intractable. Teamlab also likes Ukiyo-e had a very big focus on nature and landscapes. Exhibits featured many different animals as well trying to represent parts of nature. For example, a whole area was dedicated to big behind a waterfall. Teamlab although using lights had a very interesting flatness that I thought was very similar to Ukiyo-e, the only difference being that Teamlab used lights as a medium instead of a print.
I would still like to explore other types of modern art and see if I can find traces of Ukiyo-e in them. Hopefully, I will have more time to visit museums and get a better sense of the Japanese style. Thank you for reading about my findings! I do very strongly recommend that you visit Teamlab if you have time. As well please let me know if you have any recommendation for art museums. :)
Cool Teamlab photos :)
Some Ukiyo-e
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