Before I analyze the print, I will provide a bit of information about the artist, Maki Haku. He was born in 1924 in Ibaraki prefecture as Maejima Tadaaki. He is known for distorting characters to make his art. His art can be known as abstract calligraphy. He died in 2000. This print's title is Animal Song: Dog. The character on the print is the character for bark/howl. Also the title of the piece (戌）is not the usual character of dog, this character is used to describe dog as one of the twelve animals of the zodiac. The color red can be seen a passion, blood, or many other things. The red background looks rough as if it had been scratched. Other than the red sky or the character for bark, the only other image in the print is the orange moon. The character seems to be coming from a unseen dog. The stretch of the character also looks as if it was howled at the moon. The title also ties the character in the print to the idea of dogs. Howling is a song for dogs. This print could have been inspired by a book of poetry entitled "Howling at the Moon" by Sakutarou Hagiwara.
I really like the image you were assigned! The bold color drew me in immediately. There really was this intense quality about this image. The title really brings out the essence of this image. The way the artist distorted the character really works with the image and gives the image a very interestingly eery and passionate feel. Good Job!
ReplyDeleteI've seen this print once before and I think it is one of the coolest looking out of the entire collection. This image is pretty straightforward and you analyzed in such way. However, you noticed something I did not that I think is pretty cool. That the character is stretching up towards the sky as if it is being released by a creature out of frame. Like it belongs in a word bubble. Very good.
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