Tensai Tokyo Sketch Thread - Sept 28 Exhibition + Commissioned Work Tests!

[paperX]

ah sorry for not dropping by for so long, loving the sketches as always...the watercolours are really funky too...makes me wanna try them out update more man! (not that i'm in a position to say anything haha)

[paperX]

sorry to double post but MERRY CHRISTMAS

[ajvenema]

dude, update
U have had such an amazing progress. i watched from page 1, and couldnt stop. It inspires me a lot. Not in the way that i wanna make the same stuff, but it brings up so much in me! im working on a admission assignment for school next year, and i was kinda stuck, but after looking at this ive got a whole new fresh load of ideas thanks!

[pennington]

it's always refreshing looking at your work can't wait to see some of what you've been up to over the holidays.

[tengudesu]

"....but also through seeking inspiration for both techniques and concepts by looking at artists around the world such as H.R Giger, Lok Jansen, Amose and underground street artist "Bo130" – just to mention a few."


See Mr.Tensai Tokyo Your name is in my personal statement, sent to
London College of Communication

Love your work, and I'm dying without an update from you soon

Have a nice day !

[tensai]

Oh man, I keep on wanting to write half a book to tell everything that happened, pick out all the best photos and select from a shit load of stuff I did.

I'm a little short on time recently (a good thing) and i have to just put some stuff up and see whenever all the rest comes otherwise it will be 2012 before i put anything new in here.

let's just say, everything went really really well for me the last couple of months.

the Bienalle in Shenzhen was on so many levels an incredible experience. Learned a lot, connected with a lot of my old best friends, made tons of new friends, seen incredible art, and seen many people respond and connect to my work in ways I really hadn't anticipated.

I made an installation of a selection of my cityscapes in lightboxes.
I had lambda durst prints in lightboxes and it was a mad lot of work to get eveything done but it was well worth it.

Had a budget from the Chinese government that didn't really cover it all so I had some more lightboxes with prints made and sold those off.
The whole thing might go to a gallery in beijing (met a lot of curators of course), and we probably gonna do a little exhibition in the sub-gallery of the New National Museum in Tokyo (word? I'm sure that's gonna take ages to finalise though)...

I had limited edition prints made that I sold to the museum book store in shenzhen, a lot of them got stolen haha. I wanna go back to China for a couple of months to do some more projects there. Don't know when that will be though, gotta finish some work here.

I was going to do a shit load of painting back in Tokyo but it just didn't happen yet. So you guys have to make do with train sketches and some photos.

Will try to put some more stuff up soon. Thanks to everybody for all the feedback and for calling me back in.
cheers!!!













This last image I exhibited in another place at the Bienalle.
Because a lot of the projects in the bienalle were either about the metropolis or about architecture, I wanted to do something more small scale and local.

This drawing is a tribute to the backstreets of the Shenzhen Handshake Apartments (Wo Shou Lau). These apartments are so close together that neighbours across the street from each other can shake hands. The narrow backstreets are full of function and life - worthy of putting in an exhibit.
Posca ink and oil bar on print (4,25 x 1,5 m).

[tensai]

and train sketches

[tensai]

and a couple more



Watercolour, marker, anything I had on me.


Spend new years day sketching the shrine in my wife's village. will send it to her brother who spend many days there when he was young. hope to do a watercolour version of this one.



Ah! and yeah - I got this in the mail yesterday. The new Mikosa magazine is out. Got two spreads in there. Beautifully made, limited to 500 copies. will have to take some better photos but here it is...






Started a blog, check it for more info if you want.

That's it for now!
Comments and crits as always appreciated.

[bhanu]

Man the exhibitions looks awesome...cant wait to see the paintings........kick ass as usual...Like the train sketches....though I would want to see more figures in there , but thats just me...
Again, Cant wait for the paintings.

[Brendan N]

My god this is all just FANTASTIC!! Wow.
Will return when I catch my breath - for now I'll just say that this has made my entire week sir.
backinabit!

[Nick R]

Great stuff. I like those train sketches, so simple but effective in getting the image across.

[krossj]

...fucking incredible stuff mate!

The show looks great and the cityscapes in the lightboxes...wow. Sketches look grand to.

Really happy to here things are going well mate, cheers

[MattGamer]

loving it all!!

you have been such an inspiration to me. i am now contemplating on going through architecture and industrial design for college in a year here. the pleasing thing of it all is that it's so structured and the rules appeal to me.

[stalsby]

so much freedom and rhythm in your line work! I really get inspired!

[koppa]

sweet moses! uve been busy duder all looks great man

[Ignominious]

wow man! those last series of pen portraits are really really nice!

you've got a great sb!

[paperX]

man....i love it...LOVE IT, wish i could get a closer view of those exhibition pieces...you keep rocking hard man, i swear one of these days im gonna go to one of your exhibitions (its on my things-to-do-before-death-list )

also your train sketches....seriously inspirational to me....i dont know how you can manage to capture people in so little strokes, thats something i try but never manage to really do

anyways enough whining....glad to see things have been going so well for you man, and thanks for such an inspirational update

PS: is this you?

[ItalianHorsey]

Your stuff is really nice, those train sketches are crazy. I can never finish a persons face when I'm drawin someone without tellin them... ='[

[The Fez]

Your inking skills friggen blow my mind.

I'm also lovin' your train sketches, great style.

[Ham-e]

Yo Tensai,

How's it going? Looks like you've been working your balls off! Good stuff. Luv the light boxes, great idea!

[Osmus]

duuuuuuuude. you have motivated me to pick up a sharpie and just sketch with it. i'm glad things are going well for you!

[ccsears]

sweet update, man! i love those head sketches. they have so much personality captured in just a few lines. very open. great as usual!

[Brendan N]

Right so I promised I'd be back ... but honestly I can't find anything constructive to say about all this. It's just mind-blowingly fantastic - all of it. Particularly like the exhibition stuff probably because, yeah, I'm a colour-nut. Love the minimalist approach to drawing faces, always a quality that I'm trying to emulate.

The 4,25 x 1,5 m drawing is really impressive, think it has to be pretty damn awesome in person.
Congrats on it all, and the mikosa - not really familiar with it but it looks like a very prestigious and selective magazine!
Thanks for the crits in my book, appreciate them - I'm getting far too little of them lately haha.
keep well and good luck with work and deadlines!
ciao!

[t11]

As always your linework blows my mind in it's detail, but simplicity. How much for a lightbox so all my drawings can be Tensai tracings? :p

[tokidokizenzen]

I can't believe this is my first time here. I just went through your book from start to finish and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to more.

[DannySketch]

i think i leave it a while before i come in here on purpose, just so i can get a nice little overdose of the wonder that is ur lines. so good man and ur just getting better,

cheers

[tensai]

i just finished a long illustration project for a dutch furniture catalogue. it's 04:30 am and i'm waiting for client and graphic designer to confirm successful download of the material. so i just wanna chill and put a little sketch up.





visiting a silkscreen print studio tomorrow here in tokyo. i hope i can use their facilities and start making some prints there. would love to do some limited edition hand made prints over there. i've been looking forward to doing this for months and i hope to show some of the first trials soon.

i'll comment back to everybody once i'm up and running again. cheers for all the cool comments and support.

edit - i'll post some more close-ups of the exhibition and a little movie of it next time i post. oyasumi!!!

[tensai]

still didn't sleep haha. here's an ink and screentone version. unfortunately it doesn't downres to well.
check my cutting skills.








word.

[madplanet]

Lok, those light boxes are killer! That would have been one very cool show to attend. I missed seeing all of your chaotic cityscapes and they are as fresh as ever.

Hope that all has been well with you (it looks so!).

[pennington]

Hey Awesome, I was in shenzhen last january, but didn't get the chance to go to any galleries. your show looks amazing tho. the light boxes are stylish
I've been a bit down about my draftsmanship lately, I do warmup exercises but I still don't want to draw in my sketchbook a lot because I don't feel confident in my lines. do you have any tips to help improve line quality and speed?
That massive train sketch dump must have taken hours to scan, crop, and upload. but it's beautiful.
thanks