A weekend of delivering paintings sold during the Open Studio show to their lucky new owners; very satisfying! One delivery charge was a much-welcomed beer on the beach – art, sunshine, beer, beach; not a bad combo at all.
Went to the RA to see the
Kuniyoshi exhibition. It was great. Kuniyoshi, up there with
Hiroshige and
Hokusai as one of the Japanese Edo period great image makers, but for whatever reason not quite as well known. Some of the prints in this show are breathtaking – beautiful rhythms in the composition, elegant but dynamic draughtsmanship marked by magical sense of line, simplicity and detail.
You can see how much the best
Manga and comic books (think Frank Miller's
Wolverine and
Ronin) are influenced by work like Kuniyoshi's, but this is a class apart. In the depictions of action and drama there always seems to be a special touch that lifts it. Even in the most bizarre mythical imaginings there is a real humanity: the turn of a shoulder at a moment of impact, a puff of ash, toes digging in, everyday items upturned or viewed from a different audacious angle. Really lovely stuff!
