I Like To Singa

Have you visited Singa-planet?

THE ubiquitous Housing Board flat, home to the majority of the population in Singapore, has become part of the art of a contemporary Japanese artist.

In Akira Yamaguchi's imagination, HDB blocks are seen as historical monuments sprouting out of their green natural setting.

In his book, Singa-planet, the latest compilation of art drawn by the 41-year-old artist, he gives a new, unusual and refreshing perspective of Singapore's quotidian urban landscape.

"I was lost for words to see such beautiful buildings," he told my paper in a recent interview.

The art in Singa-planet was exhibited recently in Singapore at the Japan Creative Centre (JCC), which is run by the Japanese Embassy here, and was a parallel event of the recently concluded Singapore Biennale.

To Yamaguchi, who has visited Singapore twice, it isn't the obvious tourist icons like the Singapore Flyer or the historical statue of Singapore's founder, Sir Stamford Raffles, that catches his eye – or his heart.

Instead, it is the humble HDB abodes and things in Singaporeans' daily lives, such as a chicken-rice stall or escalators in a shopping mall, that give him inspiration.

Representative of his peculiar visual perspective is the pencil-and-watercolour artwork on the cover of Singa-planet, in which Singapore is depicted as a huge ship sailing strongly against the wind.

There is no clear indication whether the vessel is sailing in the sea or soaring in the sky.

Heading skywards is a skyscraper that is a mix of Singapore's modern condominiums, a helicopter port, HDB blocks, churches and Indian temples.

Also included are Malay-style kampung houses, a busy shopping mall, and even the outstretched arm of a construction crane – reflecting the fact that the building of concrete structures is a continual process here.

In blending the past and the future, Yamaguchi creates unexpected beauty. His drawings contain both abstract and obvious messages and tempt the audience to scrutinise details to seek clues to the artist's intent.

In doing so, the audience becomes a part of his art.

The Tokyo-born Yamaguchi lives and works as a contemporary artist in the Japanese capital. He has a Master of Art in oil painting from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Almost every year, he holds either solo or two-person exhibitions, the latest being City Strollers, at the Fukuoka Mitsukoshi Gallery.

Nic Buxom: I Like To Sing-a - a Dominatrix's BDSM Webcomic

ModelS, Yea, they're totally real! They've always been popular for the aesthetic but they actually work really great for opening up possibilities as to where to cuff different limbs! Also, it helps with really tall and really short subs cuz anyone fits. :) Here's an old pic of the ones we had at PAS that I dug up: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jQQMON8BgVo/R7lfOK4sr8I/AAAAAAAAAbY/uwNczaCtY94/alc.

Wild Bill Elliott, a complete filmography

Tunes for 'toons, music and the Hollywood cartoon

Film composers in America, a filmography, 1911-1970

The South Park Episode Guide Seasons 1-5, The Official Companion to the Outrageous Plots, Shocking Language, Skewed Celebrities, and Awesome Animation

Disintegrating the musical, Black performance and American musical film