Since it seems I’m not able to keep a strict chronological order here it is a drawing which is somehow special… Three samurai, out of seven… I am an admirer of almost all things Japanese – “almost”, because Japanese people and Japanese culture are very contradictory and paradoxical entities – and there is no doubt that Akira Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai” is one of my all times favorites. I’ve seen it many times and I can look at it once a week without the slightest trace of boredom… It’s a masterpiece, a tremendously beutiful and poignant visual work, a sample of what can be done by a very special artist with this art called the “seventh”… So, one day, I run The Seven Samurai on my videoplayer (I do not have the film, yet, on DVD, but I will, one day) and just put it on “pause” here and there, where a beautiful image caught my eye… and I draw. This is one of the best of my & samurai drawings. I post it here also to prove that I’m not just an old geezer, stuck in some academic sheait (I know how to write the word but I’m polite) but that I know and can to take advantage of “technological advance”. With the DVD players and DVD mvies it’s even better – you can draw a film frame by frame if you want and the richness of visual material is practically too much for an artist. Of course, what counts is WHAT YOU DO, what you sect, with all that richness… And I din’t even start talking about computer use in the work of a modern visual artist (the scanners and the plotters, the digital photography etc.) I hope to still have some time to get to that…
15 responses so far ↓
Eric Holcomb // 01/12/2007 at 14:15 |
Yeah, Kurosawa rocked didn’t he? I first saw the movie when I was about nine or ten. My favorite scene now is the “debate” in which two fellows with bokken swing at each and then both claim to have won. Then had had to be prove it with steel. The action, drama and amazing cinamatography make it one my favorites too.
e.
ivdanu // 02/12/2007 at 01:18 |
That’s exactly the scene were I did the drawings, Eric! One of my favourites too… But there are so many I will have to make a whole blog for it!
wrjones // 05/12/2007 at 22:41 |
These drawings have great visual interest. I like the movement. I spent 2 years in Japan and watched many samurai movies.
iondanu // 06/12/2007 at 00:44 |
Thanks, bill. I took great pleasure drawing this! And I really envy you for your 2 Japan years! How did you go there? Teaching job? I know they aren’t very keen on other kind of strangers residing in Japan?
ovidiu stanomir // 06/12/2007 at 21:15 |
Din “cei 7 samurai” au mai ramas doar 3. Ultimii, dar nu cei de pe urma…
ivdanu // 07/12/2007 at 08:05 |
sa speram, O, sa speram ca cei din urma vor fi cei dintai… Problema e : cand?!
mihail medrea // 07/12/2007 at 18:34 |
oricind
rafi // 07/12/2007 at 22:01 |
Yes, Kurosawa is very good, and amazingly, you have captured the Japanese spirit in this drawing, so much so that at first I thought it is a Japanese drawing. Well done!
Regarding ‘The 7 samurai’, the Copola version is also a masterpiece, The Magnificent Seven’, with seven magnificent Hollywood stars of the old style, Steve McQueen, Yull Bryner, Lee Marvin…Worth watching.
rafi
Highly recommended, even for Kurosawa lovers.
visalon // 08/12/2007 at 03:17 |
Danu,
Tocmai am citit comentariul lui Rafi si imi permit sa il contrazic cu riscul de a “ma face de bascalie.”
Eu spre deosebire de tine si de antecomentatorul meu, nu am vizionat atat de multa pictura japoneza incat sa pot afirma: lucrarea ta este in spiritul picturii japoneze, dar pot sa spun ca spun asa:
dupa parerea mea samuraii tai sunt cam efeminati, asa ca te rog as mai faci un desen in care sa disting spiritul razboinic.
K?
ivdanu // 08/12/2007 at 07:12 |
Thanks, rafi for your appreciation. However, the Magnificent Seven is a John Sturges movie (not Coppola’s) and you are right about Yull Bryner and Steve McQueen – but Lee Marvin is more like James Coburn (sometimes I do confound them either…) + Charles Bronson and others. Great western, yes.
ivdanu // 08/12/2007 at 07:15 |
Carmen, nu-s samuraii mei… Is “copiatzi” dupa cei din film, cadru cu cadru. Meritul meu este doar ca am sintetizat graphic imaginea si am ales exact momentul pe care l-am crezut cel mai semnificativ vizual… nu cred ca-s efeminatzi (nu mai mult decat avatarul meu…) Altfel, ce mai faci?
visalon // 08/12/2007 at 19:58 |
dargul meu, nu am vrut sa te supar dar asa i-am vazut eu. pe cel din fundalun pic cosas, pe cel din mijloc ca un rege dintr-un balet si pe cel din fata ca pe un haiduc, dar nu unul aprig ci unul interpretat de Florin Piersic:)
Altfel ce sa mai fac, bine, desi de laudat nu ma preapot lauda.
Sunt ca un samurai care nu stie inca daca a castigat sau nu batalia.
O sa incerc sa-ti scriu un e-mail.
Cu drag,
c.
ivdanu // 09/12/2007 at 07:10 |
Nu-tzi fa probleme, carmen. Ii vezi cum ii vezi si eu nu pot face prea mult ca sa-tzi influentzez viziunea, cum nu-l pot impiedica pe fiu-meu sa creada ca metamfetaminele o sa-l ajute sa scrie scenariul vietzii lui…in loc sa-i friga creierasul si asa destul de abuzat… Uneori am impresia ca nu pot influentza aproape nimic, ca totul se intampla inafara si contra vointzei si putintzei mele… Incerc sa cred in bunavointza Celui de sus dar pana acum n-am reusit sa ma conving de altceva decat de indiferentza lui… Poate ca sunt nedrept… Dar sunt cum m-a facut…
anangeli // 28/04/2008 at 13:42 |
There are also TVs that let you pause the video while the sound goes ahead. I am taking advantage of this also. The last TV we bought, unbeknowst to us, has this feature. Technology helping art!
ivdanu // 28/04/2008 at 23:57 |
An artist could draw and paint from dawn to dusk with only the minumum of breaks and still not take advantage of 1% of the possibilities out there… only problem is chosing…