Japan 365: A Drawing-A-Day Project

by J Muzacz

Overview

JAPAN 365 is the Essential art book of Japan. An excellent hand-drawn retrospective and an amazing feat of sustained creativity. Entirely bilingual in English and Japanese.

Artist and English teacher J Muzacz set out on a journey with some sketchbooks and ordinary ball pens. A test of artistic endurance, J drew an A4 (8.5in. x 11in.) piece for everyday of 2011 while living, working and traveling in Japan-A Drawing-A-Day Project for 365 days.

Delving into history books for classic traditional imagery and embarking on broken bilingual conversations with locals about hidden shrines, temples and festivals, helping harvest rice, eating strange food, dissecting fashion and more, J has unearthed some real gems that many Japanese people do not even know about.

Working from life and with stills captured by some of Japan's finest photographers, depicting Hokkaido in the arctic north to Okinawa in the tropical south and everywhere in between, J has captured history, culture and current events in stark and striking black and white, reminiscent of Japan's archetypal art style-the Hanga woodblock print.

Images range from beautiful landscapes to scenes of unsettling tsunami aftermath, women wearing kimono to unfinished old faces-- always evocative and educational, insightful explanations or anecdotes on every page, laid out clearly in both English and Japanese.

Muzacz re-establishes artwork as a viable means to record a unique folk history while still communicating universal human tendencies and timeless natural beauty. Let us not forget that visual art is a valuable story-telling medium which transcends language barriers.

Japan 365 is a must-have for aspiring artists or architects, Japan-o-philes of any kind, Asian art aficionados, anyone interested in Japanese language, history and culture, or simply someone in need of a little daily creative inspiration.

Japan 365 is a useful Art/Reference volume, cultural study, coffee table book and more. You definitely want to add this one-of-a-kind book to your collection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780985312701
Publisher:	J. Muzacz
Publication date:	05/24/2012
Pages:	434
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.02(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Artist/Teacher J Muzacz has spent most of the last decade living and traveling abroad. Always drawing and painting alongside teaching, he makes his mark in both murals and in the minds of today's youth.
The everyday of living in a foreign country provides an immensely inspirational insider's stance. Especially since J has an academic background in Sociology (University of Texas), he is able to dissect and incorporate local imagery with a certain fleeting authenticity.

Reflecting on the motive behind J's creative pursuits; Public art, including murals, and now books, is not only rooted in the aesthetic. These forms are accessible educational tools, too. Images, as opposed to words, are not bound by language barriers.

Keep an eye on J and upcoming projects via his website, http://www.jmuzacz.com.

JAPAN 365 is just the beginning...

Editorial Reviews

2013-08-15
A debut collection of pen-and-ink drawings of Japan that blend reality and the artist's imagination. Muzacz, an American artist and a resident of Japan, compiles the results of his effort to complete one ballpoint-pen drawing each day for an entire year, starting in January 2011. The devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 are the focus of many images, as is the Occupy movement that developed later in the year. The author arranges his drawings by theme--people, architecture, fashion, animals and so on--and provides captions or longer descriptions in both English and Japanese. Drawings of the natural world dominate the book's early pages, and later illustrations mostly depict people and man-made environments. A section on graffiti reflects the author's early days as a street artist, but the collection embraces a wide variety of styles, including explicit emulations of noted artists throughout Japanese history. The captions suggest that some drawings are based on photographs, while others are apparently drawn from life. Some images, particularly those depicting mythological creatures or surfing fish, are evidently drawn from the author's imagination. Many of these pleasing drawings feel timeless; readers will be left wondering if a bucolic temple image was taken from a 19th-century photograph or if there are tourists just outside the frame taking pictures on their iPhones. The book's final section collects thumbnail versions of all 365 images, presented in the order in which they were originally drawn. Overall, this is a comprehensive view of Japan, past and present, as seen through the eyes of a young artist with an eye for beauty in all its forms. An attractive visual introduction to Japan.

Kirkus Reviews