Scene3602018 has been an incredible for movies. So good in fact, compiling a list of ten films was a tough nut to crack. Plenty of excellent titles were left out. âRoma,â âSorry To Bother You,â âLoveless,â âBlackkklansman,â âDownsizing,â âWesternâ and âClimaxâ all deserve honourable mentions. While summer blockbuster âMission: ImpossibleâFalloutâ gets a special shout-out for […]
Art masterpieces get revamped by Korean tattooer, Pitta KKM. From Picasso to Michelangelo to Magritte, from the waves of Hokusai to the temples of ChĆ«ta, KKM pulls inspiration from all over, updating their work through the lens of his heritage. “In Korea, there are traditional colors called âì€ë°©ì’ (five direction colors),” he explains. “Blue, white, […]
“She can seduce any man she wants with her mesmerizing beauty.” Korean tattooer Suzani lovingly describes Tomie, a Japanese horror manga character, and the root of her creative inspiration. “Men couldn’t control their love toward her, so they killed her. Murdered, and buried into pieces. But no matter how many times they killed her, she came back […]
So rich has been the history and variety of films from the Land of the Rising Sun that narrowing down a selection of the bestâor even of favouritesâis practically impossible. Here, then, is something a little more provisional: an eclectic anthology of ten titles which will each amaze, enthral and astonish, and which collectively will […]
In the past several years, South Korea has becoming a powerhouse for great tattoo artists. But technically, their practice is considered illegal in the eyes of the South Korean government. Why is this? The reasoning makes sense, but doesnât reflect the current state of tattooing. Basically, tattoos are seen as a âmedical procedureâ that should be performed […]
Mari Shimizu is an artist from Amakusa in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, who creates hollowed-out ball-joint dolls. Each doll is unique in that the contents of their eviscerated torsos reveal different elements of horror and fantasy. In a statement provided to Illusion, Shimizu explains how “We hide our hearts from our families and friends in order […]
The art movement known as minimalism is ubiquitous today, but it only emerged to prominence about 60 years ago. Established in the United States, it initially referred to artworks comprising geometric shapes. This approach, which included painters like Frank Stella, Donald Judd, and Agnes Martin, implores the viewer to respond to âonly to what is […]
Nothing penetrates the inner workings of a societyâs power structures quite so starkly as its sexual practices – and so, by exposing the relations of the genders and the shifting positions of the body politic, films that focus on the erotic can poke, prod and probe the state of a nation. Korean directors like Kim […]
Note: Contains nudity. Takato Yamamoto paints gothic scenes that resemble erotic nightmares. He calls his work “Heisei Estheticism,” drawing on the tradition of Japanese woodblock prints and infusing them with images (often violent and sexualized) inspired by modern manga. Recurring motifs include sullen-faced women bound in ropes, rotting corpses festooned with vines, and bloodied vampires […]
