Hagaki no.2: Saru

Monkey business

Only two cards in and you may have noticed a theme. I only have three types of paint at the moment: burnt umber, cadmium red and titanium white. Mix them, you say. Damn you all to hell, I cry back.

Saru

Monkeys are what we’d be if we truly didn’t give a fuck about anything. The scamps.

This little simian baboushka rolled from the pages of an fascinating pocket book on Meiji to early Showa era Japanese ad images. Western influences were beginning to break through, and artists took to fusing the styles – an often fruitful process continued to this day. Far from being insular, the Japanese can be remarkably open to new ideas, devouring them with rabid hunger and producing things new and exciting.