Big Rice Straw Beasts Sculpted For The Wara Straw Art Festival.

You may or may not have seen images of large sculpted straw beasts, recently being shared all over the internet. Truth be told, they are not new, but are actually a few years old (from 2010 and 2011) from the annual Wara Straw Art festival in Niigata. According to CNN Travel, The Wara Art Matsuri takes place every year in two locations in Niigata, at Kanko Shisetsu Iwamuroya (96-1 Iwamuro Onsen, Nishikan-ku, Niigata) and Uwasekigata park (1 Matsunoo, Nishikan-ku, Niigata).










The festival is an annual celebration of Autumn where local people and college students of Art and Architecture departments create some impressive straw art in Nishikan-ku, an area is said to have the "largest paddy fields in the country," according to Japan Style.













The art is created from rice straw by locals and college students. The structures are made from pipes and wood sticks, then the straw is added, taking about a week per piece to complete.

images are courtesy of Kotaku and CNN Travel

Flesh Love. 80 Vacuum-Sealed Couples Photographed by Haruhiko Kawaguchi.

Haruhiko Kawaguchi, who goes by the name Photographer Hal, is a Tokyo photographer and artist whose project FLESH LOVE literally vacuum packs couples of all types in 100x150x74 cm plastic bags. The idea is to keep love fresh forever. Once the air is sucked out of the bag by a vacuum cleaner, Kawaguchi only has about 10-20 seconds to take his pictures. Any longer and he would risk causing harm to his subjects.



Thus far 80 couples, many of whom Kawaguchi met at nightclubs in Tokyo, have participated in the project.

"When you embrace your lover, sometimes you wish to melt right into them.
To realize this wish, I've been photographing couples in small, or even cramped spaces like motels and bathtubs.
As my work has become more and more intense, I've noticed that communication is indispensable.
This time, I reached the point of photographing couples in vacuum-sealed packs, on a set that I've constructed in my own kitchen. The lights are in the ceiling, so I just flip one switch and have everything ready.
I have a few different colored paper backgrounds, which I can leave rolled up in the corner until there's none left. This gives me 10 seconds to take the shot.
In this extremely limited time I can't release the shutter more than twice." -- (Excerpts from the author's postscript)

Kawaguchi says that his female subjects have reacted much better to the bizarre vacuum-packing process than his male subjects. Women have remained calm while the men have been prone to struggle for air and feel claustrophobic. In one case, a male even wet himself. The women's most common concern is they they look good. Vanity and incontinence aside, here's a look at 42 of the photos from FLESH LOVE:























"FLESH LOVE" is one of the most unique photograph projects in the world and received the 1st place award in The Art of Photography Show 2011 held in San Diego, USA. France's Photo and art magazine "AZART" featured it inside and on the cover of their March 2011 issue.

FLESH LOVE PRINTS :
You can purchase individual prints from this series here

FLRSH LOVE GALLERY BOOK:
Or a softcover photobook of the show with 72 images here

FLESH LOVE ITUNES APP
An application for iPad of "FLESH LOVE" is available on itunes as well.

Haruhiko Kawaguchi aka Photographer Hal

A special thanks to Jaci Lerner for bringing this to my attention!

Daisy Balloon. Crazy Couture Creations Filled With Air.

Daisy Balloon is balloon artist Rie Hosokai (born 1976) and art director/graphic designer Takashi Kawada (born 1976). Together they have created fashions, hats and more by knitting balloons of various sizes, shapes and colors together. Making the world their stage, this balloon unit travels the globe to exhibit their art.





Below are just a few of my favorite designs of theirs from exhibitions, editorials, websites and various publications.

Sunday Issue
artwork : rie hosokai (daisy balloon)
artdirection : takashi kawada (kotenhits)
photography : hiroshi manaka (tiimu)
head stylist : kunio kohzaki (tron)
make-up : ebara (miyabi)




above photos for Sunday Issue courtesy of antjeverena

For The Daisy Balloon Website
art work : rie hosokai (daisy balloon)
art direction : takashi kawada (kotenhits)
photography: hiroshi manaka (tiimu / nam)
hair-dreesing & make-up : rie suda
stylist : tastuhiko marumoto (eight peace)
photo retouch : yoshiaki sakurai (iino graphic images / nam)
interactive design,technical direction : yusuke oshima
flash : takuya fukuda(tagflug)








Christmas Card for Laforet


Exuviation
Artwork : Daisy Balloon
Production : Atsushi Umezawa
Photography: Satoshi Minakawa
Styling : Kumiko Iijima
Hair&Make-up : Noboru Tomizawa
Model : Ninon Webb




Osaka Takashimaya
Curation : Daisuke Nagamori / Naohito Miyagi / Momoko Yamada
Artwork＋Graphic Design : Daisy Balloon
Photography: Hiroshi Manaka / Photo Retouch : Yoshiaki Sakurai
Make-up : Ken Nakano / Hair : Koji Ichikawa / Stylist : Koji Oyamada



Rich Magazine
art work : rie hosokai (daisy balloon)
art direction : takashi kawada (kotenhits)
photography : shoji uchida
styling : miki aizawa
hair & make-up : hirokazu niwa (maroonbrand)
model : iruka (okazaki models)
photo retouch : makoto harikae



Fiercive Magazine
art work : rie hosokai (daisy balloon)
photography: hiroshi manaka (tiimu / nam)
hair-dreesing & make-up : go utsugi (switch management & produce)
stylist : tastuhiko marumoto (eight peace)
photo retouch : mika yagihashi (pygmalion)
model : gwen (bravo)




Chocolate A-Z exhibition in Hong Kong (Harbour City)
art work : rie hosokai (daisy balloon)
art direction : takashi kawada (kotenhits)
photography: hiroshi manaka (tiimu / nam)
hair-dreesing & make-up : rie suda
stylist : tastuhiko marumoto (eight peace)
photo retouch : yoshiaki sakurai (iino graphic images / nam)


A few random designs of their from over the years:




Balloon Bridal





The Daisy Balloon Book Cover
Artwork : Rie Hosokai / Art Direction : Takashi Kawada
Photography: Hiroshi Manaka / Make-up : Ebara
Hair : Koji Ichikawa / Stylist : Koji Oyamada
Model : Ira Shushiebina / Photo Retouch : Yoshiaki Sakurai
Set Production : Yoshihito Tada
Production : Daisy Balloon / Book Design : Takashi Kawada
Editor : Arata Sasaki / Translator : Saori Hamada
Print : YAMADA PHOTO PROCESS CO.,LTD / Paper : Heiwa Paper Co., Ltd.


images courtesy of Daisy Balloon, Rie Hosokai and Trendland

See More At Daisy Balloon
Tokyo, Japan
info@daisyballoon.com