Satoshi Tajiri

Satoshi Tajiri is a video games designer, born in Japan mostly know for him famous creation Pokémon which I was addicted to watching as a kid and still am to this day! As a young child he was an insect collector (this put me of a bit and made me shiver in horror…eww!) this and the urban are he lived in has influenced his style. He spent most of his early years studying game design and learning how to use various programs, trying to master them all.

Pokémon took him six long years to complete, and after all that time it wasn’t even predicted to sell well (pisstake or what). He first had the genius idea of collecting and sharing animation when he first saw a game boy, (who remembers those? haha), his efforts paid off in the end though as he made a multibillion dollar franchise.

He has a list of prizes to his name, and has been named in the list of the top 100 creators in IGN.

References 

http://reface.me/wp-content/uploads/pokemon-02.jpg

Pokémon Website

Pina Bausch

Philippine Bausch nicknamed as Pina, is a dancer and choreographer born 1940 in Germany. Following first experiences at Solingen's children's ballet, at the early age of 14 she started her dance training at the Folkwang  Hochschule. In 1958 she was awarded the Folkwang-Price and armed with a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service, she leaves for one year as a special student at the Juilliard School of Music to New York. As a dancer she worked with Paul Taylor, Paul Sanasardo and Donya Feuer.   

She has won many awards including, The Honour award, Laurence Olivier Award and Japan's  Kyoto Prize and while in 2008 the city of Frank am Main awarded her its Goethe Prize.  


Her latest 3D documentary film, Pina, saw work with Wim Wenders. The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival  in 2011. Her work is soon to be staged in June and July this year to highlight cultural Olympiad preceding the Olympic games 2012in London. Her work was created whilst on a visit to 10 global countries where she was invited to LA, Rome, Japan, India, Brazil, Hong Kong and Budapest to name a few between 1986 and 2009.

References

http://www.pina-film.de/en/pina-bausch.html

Naoko Takeuchi

I love Manga drawings and that why for my next biography I have chosen to talk about Naoko Takeuchi, who is the artist behind one of my favourite amine show Sailor Moon. She is a Tokyo born and based animator who as a young child was heavily influenced by Manga drawings, driving her to join various clubs to learn more and has now influenced most of her work. She later went to University because she was told that it would be a good fall back by her father just in case she didn’t make it as an artist or animator.

Her first comic was Love Call which she wrote at the age of 19, when she began work for Kodansha and later received an award for. She then became an editor at Toki Meca, whilst working closely with PNP and giving lectures to students in her spare time.

Other pieces of her successful work include Love witch, a one shot story about a witch and her adventures and  Chocolate Christmas, which is a story about a girl who falls in love with a DJ over the Christmas period to name a few.

References

http://www.takeuchi-naoko.com/

http://sailormoonfan100.webs.com/naokotakeuchi.htm

Bill Plympton

Bill Plympton  grew up in a large family; he first started dipping his figures in different stuff when he was at university joining various clubs. At the ages of 14 he send Disney some of his art work, even though they did reply back to him, telling him his drawings showed promise he was too young. In 1983 he was approached by a film asking him animate for him, it was called Boomtown, after this move he started making his own animation film, Drawing Lesson 2.

GUIDE DOG 2006
Guide Dog is a sequel to the Oscar nominated short Guard Dog. This time our hero dog helps blind people with typical disastrous results.

HOT DOG 2008

The 2nd sequel to the Oscar-nominated short Guard Dog. This time, our intrepid hero dog goes to work for the fire department, and chaos, as always, ensues...

In 1998, Bill returned to animation with I married a strange person. It's a heart warming story of a newlywed couple on their wedding night. Bill's next animated feature, Mutant aliens, the story of a stranded astronaut returning to Earth after 20 years in space, was completed in January 2001 and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It won the Grand Prix in Annecy 2001 and was released in theatres in 2002. It has played all over the world to huge audiences.

References
http://www.plymptoons.com/biography/bio.html

Mike Schreiber

I went to Mike Schreiber’s true hip hop exhibition recently for a book signing in London. It was a very last minute decision and I was upset that I didn’t even get a chance to say hi, let alone ask any questions, from a distance he seems like a nice humble gut though. As you have probably gathered I have a thing for black and white photography hence me choosing another photographer who does black and white pictures.

Mike is a New York based photographer who documents the Hip Hop world, I admire him because he is self taught and has accomplished so much. Most of his pictures he takes are black and white and feature artists such as Mia, Eminem, Flava Flav, Most Def and Petey Pablo.  He also takes pictures of dogs, prisoners and kids on the Cuban streets. His style is gritty and captures the essence of culture.

“he loves taking pictures and hopes to never have another job in his life.”

(Mike Schreiber’s web bio)

References

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://thegallant.com/wp-content/themes/gallant/timthumb.php%3Fsrc%3Dhttp://thegallant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/mosdef-schreiber.jpg%26h%3D218%26w%3D218%26zc%3D1&imgrefurl=http://thegallant.com/2010/11/&usg=__oNvOzSSo3-E7743s6D2R5bKKaTc=&h=218&w=218&sz=46&hl=en&start=114&zoom=1&tbnid=hPiDzwBTdFVyMM:&tbnh=164&tbnw=164&ei=JlvZTcDJE8qHhQf67uW8Bg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmike%2Bschreiber%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SKPT_en%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D489%26tbm%3Disch0%2C2427&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=515&vpy=204&dur=56&hovh=174&hovw=174&tx=77&ty=116&sqi=2&page=8&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:114&biw=1259&bih=489

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDKRT1InF1F0Y7duS2g0fu3W0JXFSKW_WHp6UnhYAPPM7Yy2UQtzyL3mnkJEm1vQMmPbkK-AlPvvNpviGBKDDM8XDg2cNphps-_1Yf3T9kteW2eZpzzWiKL9hxjrCYkTi7Ozb_e0C9KNs/s320/_MikeSchreiber_8.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tam-sam.com/2010_01_01_archive.html&usg=__i0DSckn-YJvINRjQ4JU-YhvJ7AM=&h=320&w=248&sz=25&hl=en&start=69&zoom=1&tbnid=Fu5oWC79vMDtiM:&tbnh=164&tbnw=126&ei=JlvZTcDJE8qHhQf67uW8Bg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmike%2Bschreiber%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SKPT_en%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D489%26tbm%3Disch0%2C1401&um=1&itbs=1&biw=1259&bih=489&iact=rc&dur=290&sqi=2&page=5&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:69&tx=81&ty=54

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.etoday.ru/uploads/2009/05/19/Mike%2520Schreiber.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.etoday.ru/tag/mike%2520schreiber&usg=__ja-GNn1rkR7M0MIIEM4rg2QvDKo=&h=400&w=310&sz=25&hl=en&start=33&zoom=1&tbnid=l5Q83wufTITtUM:&tbnh=162&tbnw=120&ei=rGjZTdepDZKJhQeUt9S4Bg&prev=/search%3Fq%3DMike%2BSchreiber%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SKPT_en%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D489%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=93&sqi=2&page=3&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:33&tx=71&ty=109

Robin Rhode

Robin Rhode is a South African street artist whose work I really love, his work is like a cross between graffiti and comics. His work is set in neutral urban backgrounds, with low brow materials and gives of a humours edge to it. He does a variety of things including sculpture, performances as well as photography.  

  He uses and changes everyday objects that reference South African products or that have a personal or social connection to him and turn it into amazing art work. I actually really like his work it’s so simple and yet so full of detail and looks like it’s got so much story behind it, the simple things are the best! His earliest works were public performance, often without an audience on the streets of Johannesburg.

In 1998, he began documenting his performances, which he calls performative drawings by taking photographs of them so that he would later turn them into halting video animations that had the texture of flip books. In 2002, after moving to Berlin he shifted his practice from the urban streets into the contained space of his studio.

Nike has even been accused of ripping off one of his pieces for a television ad.

References

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sinsign.com/weblog/archives/images/Robin-Rhode-Wheel-of-Steel-.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sinsign.com/weblog/archives/semiotic_disobedience/&usg=__NEC-2MR_arzn9BkS78suCdxoSXs=&h=293&w=450&sz=91&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=sP-TFuq--jEyZM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=198&ei=mFHZTdiOLo2AhQejltX2Cw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Drobin%2Brhode%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SKPT_en%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D489%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=566&vpy=129&dur=642&hovh=181&hovw=278&tx=140&ty=103&sqi=2&page=1&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn1.lostateminor.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/robin-rhode-3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lostateminor.com/2008/04/23/robin-rhode/&usg=__id0PdbMIe8UAjZ_isZ5EcR9PBxY=&h=318&w=480&sz=22&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=myY7-oluyxjjqM:&tbnh=154&tbnw=199&ei=ClLZTZfYG4TNhAfcq5X7Cw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Drobin%2Brhode%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SKPT_en%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D489%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=128&vpy=211&dur=2788&hovh=183&hovw=276&tx=207&ty=112&sqi=2&page=1&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs is simple terms; the hard bit is defining the signs. Signs can be anything from images to text, sound and so on, which are all merged together to form one visual things that helps us get to grips with something.  Semiotics comes in different forms, from web semiotics, social semiotics to modern day semiotics, you have to look at how meaning is formed and how to interoperate a sign, draw out meaning, personal and cultural experiences from it to get a better understanding. Semiotics is largely about communication.

R = Sign/Representation

O = Object

I = Interpretation

(F) = Firstness

(S) = Secondness

(T) = Thirdness

References

Book

Cpbley, P and Jansz, L (1999), Introducing Semitoics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEgxTKUP_WI

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/semiotics/semiotic_triad.jpg&imgrefurl=http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/semiotics.htm&usg=__-YQeE-FjGk4Gp0f9WOIHn3BAkLY=&h=260&w=299&sz=7&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=u6lCoB6iQNmmcM:&tbnh=157&tbnw=181&ei=r0vZTZn2IIe0hAfR9fSvBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsemiotic%2Bsigns%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7SKPT_en%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D489%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=137&vpy=91&dur=4492&hovh=208&hovw=239&tx=152&ty=128&sqi=2&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0