Yokai

I Have recently been looking into mythology thanks to my previous research into the National gallery work; Metamorphosis. the paintings of old legends and tales from greek/ Roman times.
I decided to look into Japanese mythos, as it is usually as surreal or abstract as you could want, from Shirime who is a human figure with no eyes on his face that goes around wanting to show people his 'eye' which is located in his behind, to the less human Kasa-Obake which is basically an umbrella with one eye and one leg, sometimes depicted with a tongue that torments villagers.

Most creatures in Japanese mythology are commonly referred to as 'yokai' which are basically wondering spirits who enjoy scaring villagers and basically causing mischief.

Futakuchi-onna or two mouthed woman is a type of Yokai that is a woman in appearance but once left alone her hair turns into tendrils that feed/cover a huge mouth on the back of her head that seems to have an unmatchable appetite

I am thinking i could link these monsters into my work, Kasa-obake gave me the idea to make my 3D model into some crazy being, perhaps a hand with a face or an old computer with a face merging through the screen. the ideas are rolling in.

www.humon.deviantart.com/ This comic artist also should be credited for showing me many unusual myths from around the globe, her work is cute and smooth .

National Gallery; Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis is a big or sudden change, for example, a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, 3 big changes that change everything the caterpillar was.

It is also a multi-arts project set up at the national gallery in 2012, built around the powerful stories of change in the Roman Poet Ovids masterpieces. I will be paying attention to Titian's work more in this post for example the pieces Diana and Actaeon, The Death of Actaeon

 

by the expressions on the women's faces none have seen/ care that Actaeon has interrupted their peace except the second to the right, who looks as if she is planning something nasty.

when I did research into this painting I found I was correct in my theory, the hunter has stumbled upon the secret baths of Diana the goddess of the hunt

 

In her anger for him surprising her while she bathes naked, the goddess turns Actaeon into a stag, sending his own dogs to devour him

 

these are a good example of Metamorphosis in art, the change from innocent to not, the power of an angered goddess

the placement of Diana in the picture 'death of actaeon' made her stand out from the rest of the picture, she is also coloured in a much brighter way, every thing shows off her power and authority- however in the first image 'Diana and actaeron' they are all coloured bright and clearly, meaning they were equal so this does contrast the ending.

 

I do enjoy learning about legends and mythology, so reading into this was quite fun.

 

 

 

The inspiration for the event at the gallery is Ovid's poem metamorphosis which is 900 lines long, with different mythological tales, unfortunately he was exiled at the age of 50. all the work in the event was inspired by Ovid's poem

Visit to a museum in lincoln

Collage practice

Collage

 

For this college I combined cards, coins, fabric, keyrings, bracelet and a makeup sponge to give an autumn day effect(hopefully)

for this one I tried to remake the card below with found materials, having quite a lot of jewellery I used a necklace to resemble the tentacles, a skull earing for the mans face, 5 pence for his torso, paper clip for his legs and a rubber band for arms, I think I did well.

 

To fit into what I was working on I decided to have an octopus guarding its treasure, like most giants in mythos- there tends to be a lot of hording going on. but because octopus' are in water, and humans dump anything in the water, I put a plastic bag over his head to show that he is slowly suffocating under his own greed and mans negligence.