Artist Kimiko Yoshida And Her Stunning Self-Portraits

above: MINOTAUR BY PICASSO. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2007-2009
Archival Digital Print on canvas, anti-UV varnish, 142 x 142 cm or 59 x 59 inches


Above: Artist Kimiko Yoshida in her self-portrait titled Japonaise.

Artist Kimiko Yoshida was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1963 and left her home country, as a result of feeling the oppression against women. She now lives in Europe and has since 1995. The prolific artist has been transforming herself into various representations of herself and others in several series of self portraits (painting herself and then photographing it) since she began her career. She has turned herself into famous painters, Brides from all over the world, Blown glass letters and symbols and much much more. Over 330 different self-portraits in the last decade.

Delacroix:

Gaugin:

Matisse:

Navajo Warrior:

Pharaoh:

Picasso Torero

Quenton Metsys (moneylender):

Rembrandt:

Sheherezade:

Tiepolo:

Van Eyck:

Van Dyck:

Vermeer:

Watteau:


Her work has graced the covers of many art and photography magazines and she's received many awards including the recipient of 1st Place in the category of "self-Portraits" in the 2005 New York International Photography Awards.


above: artist Kimiko Yoshida, self-portrait

She has been so productive I can hardly show you all of her hundreds of self-portraits, but have chosen to share some of her more recent work with you here.

No one can explain these stunning and unusual self-portraits by artist Kimiko Yoshida better than the artist herself:

STATEMENT by Kimiko Yoshida, 2009

Since I fled my homeland to escape the mortifying servitude and humiliating fate of Japanese women, I amplified, through my art, a feminist stance of protest against contemporary cliches of seduction, against voluntary servitude of women, against “identity” defined by appurtenances and “communities”, against the stereotypes of “gender” and the determinism of heredity.

Art is above all the experience of transformation. Transformation is, it seems to me, the ultimate value of the work. Art for me has become a space of shifting metamorphosis. My Self-portraits, or what go by that name, are only the place and the formula of the mutation. The only raison d’être of art is to transform what art alone can transform. All that’s not me, that’s what interests me. To be there where I think I am not, to disappear where I think I am, that is what matters.

The representation of myself as a fiction mixing my Asian culture in references to Western art history is yearning for monochromy as a metaphor of effacement and disappearance, a mark of virtuality and intangibility, a symbol of infiniteness. The monochrome is a pure figure of duration wherein all imagery and all narrative are dissolved. Here, before the infinite colour, the gaze is exposed to the infiniteness of Time. This paradoxical representation is presented each time like an impossibility, a powerlessness, and a precariousness. It is this effect of incompleteness which gives the idea of a rigorous unrepresentable, unlocatable space, the idea of a space beyond the image where representation exceeds the space of representation.

My Self-portraits represent the attempt to render representation possible by seizing it at the point where what is present is the invisible absence at the heart of the image, that absence that the image makes a point of honour of making visible. The state of invisibility isn’t the point where I put myself on display, it is the point that I put on display. The state of invisibility I put on display is connected with the radical demand of art.

By giving the immaterial (the immaterial as the unnamed) an image in a series of portraits, the work of art represents what is invisible in a figure, its immateriality, before figuring itself as a figure of disappearance.

Kimiko Yoshida, a selection of some of her more recent self-portraits (2006-2009):












above: Project of a monumental wall (300 square meters/3230 square feet) gathering 154 photographs (C-prints mounted on aluminium & acrylic, 120 x 120 cm each, 48 x 48 inches each), installation 28 meters (92 feet) long by 9 meters (33 feet) high

There's a lot more amazing work to see at her website.
Kimiko Yoshida

Cool Cufflinks Hand Delivered By Hot Women. From ARMREVOLUTION.

ARMREVOLUTION, a company whose stunning cuff links I had originally written about when they first launched is now offering the ultimate in valentine's gifts for men. Not only will they receive a pair of some of the most beautifully designed modern cuff links but they will be delivered by one hell of a hottie.



For this 2010 valentine's Day, ARMREVOLUTION will be offering personal hand-delivery by one of the ARMREVOLUTION Girls who stars in the first film from the brand, which is shown below:



As with the company’s “by appointment” service, this exclusive service will only be offered in London or New York, and the price is £10,000/ US$15,000. which includes any of the designs of the Perpetual Series collection in stainless steel including a travel wallet and a black acrylic magnetized gift box.

  

“Obviously this is not for everybody and £10,000 is outrageously expensive but when you see the film you will understand!” says Anthony Hayward, Founder of ARMREVOLUTION. “For a less extravagant way to deliver the ultimate cuff link gift you can simply order using Fedex or DHL for worldwide delivery. Also, our luxury cuff link prices start at an affordable £245”.  

 The Perpetual Series collection:
     

Their new 18k white gold and 18k yellow gold versions:
 

The promotion arrives soon after ARMREVOLUTION launched its bespoke service which provides the opportunity to purchase made-to-order white and yellow gold cufflinks for two of the most iconic patent-pending designs of the brand: #5 and #10. Their bespoke cufflinks are hand-made and highly personalized with engraved initials alongside the London Hallmark.

 

above: The engraving is done by their craftsmen in the heart of the City of London. Up to 4 UPPER or lower case letters can be engraved. After careful engraving the products are hand polished and checked before shipping. The process takes 10 days at a cost of £65. (optional)




 Armrevolution

The Superbowl's Best Spot. No Actors, No Locations, Only Brilliance.

Yesterday's Superbowl was disappointing when it came to memorable commercials. There were certainly not many worth noting, with this one exception.

Google's Parisian Love 60 second spot was not only unique, breakthrough, but... bonus! ..inexpensive to produce. No sets, no casting and yet the spot was incredibly memorable.

It tells the story of a couple meeting, falling in love, getting married and eventually having a child.... all through using Google.



It wasn't reaching for the stars. No celebs, no expensive hit songs, just an actual product demonstration. But what a product demonstration. By structuring the demo to tell a linear narrative in shorthand, with the help of a few sound effects, they captured the brand as well as the hearts of most viewers.

Ask yourself this, when was the last time watching sixty seconds of someone surf the net gave you chills?



Google, based in Mountain View, California, rarely uses television to advertise. As the most-watched U.S. TV event, the Super Bowl is a magnet for both traditional sports advertisers such as Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the biggest marketer, and lesser-known companies looking to increase awareness.

Also worth noting, the best use of a power slide (you gear heads know what I mean): The Bridgestone Killer Whale spot. See it here.

Talk About Rad Art. David Foox Exposes Himself For Love.

As the daughter of a retired radiologist as well as an art-lover, it's as if these unique Valentines were made just for me.