Lots of Color and Strangeness from Mr.

12/17/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi and Fuyu-syogun inks, Caran d'Ache
Museum water-soluble colored pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

A couple of weeks ago when I reviewed several shows at the Bellevue Arts Museum, I mentioned that many art exhibits are not sketchable for various reasons. The current exhibit at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, “LiveOn: Mr.’s Japanese Neo-Pop,” would fall into that category.

Not only was it not sketchable; I don’t really know how to talk about it. The most startling work is a room full (and I mean literally full; there’s barely room to walk around) of what I will charitably call “stuff” – a lot of everyday life detritus. Piles and piles of old books, outdated appliances and electronics, cartons, broken furniture – a small mountain of stuff. Ultimately you come to realize that it’s a statement about the 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan. In another piece, a wall is covered with a montage of heartbreaking photographic images of the devastation. In another section of the exhibit are Mr.’s huge, colorful paintings inspired by manga and anime.

I did find one thing to sketch. A 30-minute film called “Nobody Dies” produced by Mr. was being shown in a room that also displayed costumes and props that were used in the film. While Greg viewed it, I stood in back and sketched the costumes and props.

(We viewed this exhibit the same day that we visited the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, but I got so excited about that place that I forgot all about posting this sketch and the exhibit review!)