distant cousins

To be clear, I do have numerous cousins (so many!) and all but one live far away (other provinces, other countries), but this post isn't about any of them...

There's a regular feature on CBC radio where listeners propose two different songs that seem to share uncanny similarities -- either by accident or as an homage to another great musical artist. They call this feature "distant cousins". I listened recently to a podcast interview of Men At Work frontman Colin Hay. They discussed the infamous Down Under court case in which it was decided they "copied" the children's "Kookaburra" song for a flute riff. It was an ugly battle. The question is, where does inspiration stop and copyright infringement start. Tough call, and I'm not sure court is where to decide.

Which brings me to my current ongoing project. I wrote about it waaaay back in the summer of 2016.  And I've been working on it off and on since then -- putting it away for long periods because I didn't know where it was going. It didn't seem to "make sense", the only connection between the multitude of fabrics is that they are all from Japan and there is something about Japanese manufactured fabrics that really sets them apart from those made elsewhere.

I wish I had posted more updates since then because I need to show that I was quite committed to the current design well before I went to the latest Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition. As I walked through the show, I couldn't help but feel recognition, connection, understanding. Yes! This makes sense! Colour, texture, pattern, and a chaotic mix of styles and images that shouldn't go together but somehow do, just because the artist has put them together.

mix

colour

chaos

background texture

And then, as I laid out my work in progress I noticed something -- at the bottom of the following photo is the back page of the art gallery pamphlet. Note, my quilt is upside down to illustrate.


Weird, eh? Really, not intentional. But it does tell me this isn't as crazy as I worried it was. And I'm pretty sure I'm going to incorporate Murakami's googly eyes in the quilting process when I get there!


Watch for the finish of this project in the future and in the meantime, I highly recommend a visit to a Takashi Murakami showing if ever you have the opportunity!

Comments

  1. Older Sister of Your Man10 February 2018 at 12:09

    I can't think of a single thing that you have ever done that didn't work out. This goes to show that sometimes ideas, like fine wines, take time. What I wonder is this: what if you put your concept into the universe and Takashi Murakami picked it up from there? Entirely possible, I'd say.

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    1. Murakami's ideas are so full of energy, I wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones to escape into the universe but I'm thrilled to have one land on me! Do you know that he says he isn't liked in Japan!

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    2. Older Sister of Your Man11 February 2018 at 07:52

      Hard to believe. They don't know what they are missing! Maybe they will in time.

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    3. ha, I think Japan likes him just fine. i have a book with a really interesting chapter where they visit his studio, I'll lend it to you!

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