So I've long been a fan of the Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. He makes these elegant, emotionally restrained movies that pack a surprisingly potent emotional punch. He was at the very center of the Japanese film industry - he was the head of the director's guild for years - yet he dispensed with Hollywood film language to create an idiosyncratic film grammar of his own. He was a quiet radical. He populated with his movies with "pillow shots" - empty shots of hallways, streets or the like. They did nothing to further the plot but gave the movie a moment to stop and rest. They gave his movies his trademark contemplative tone.
So I've long been fascinated with these pillow shots - especially from his most famous movie Tokyo Story. I've long wanted to do some kind of artistic series based on them. I've also lately been exploring more in color. Specifically acrylic paints. So I decided to paint these pillow shots using some very un-Ozu color schemes.
All of these are on 9x12 watercolor paper, using acrylic paint markers.
