Printing Museum hosts mini exhibition for crossover of virtual idol and ukiyo-e art.

As Japan’s first virtual idol, Hatsune Miku was a major milestone in the digital art field. She wasn’t the countries first example of making art by non-traditional methods, though, as centuries before painter Katsushika Hokusai’s ukiyo-e creations were produced using woodblock printing, helping to greatly expand the scope of art appreciation among the common people.

Back in the summer, we even looked at a collaboration of sorts between the two icons, in which Miku and her fellow Vocaloids visit Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji with a little help from illustrator Rella.

Initially, the crossover artwork was only being offered for sale as part of a merchandise line, but now they’re getting the proper museum treatment, with a mini exhibition at Tokyo’s Printing Museum.

In addition to the crossover artwork, the museum will also be displaying reproductions of the original Hokusai pieces that serve as the backgrounds, with explanations of the step-by-step process of how ukiyo-e are made by adding one layer of color at a time through differently shaped woodblock stamps, until final the complete picture is formed.

The exhibition also includes clever ideas such as inserting a figure of the Great Wave off Kanagawa-version of Miku into a diorama of the Hokusai painting that inspired her outfit and Rela’s ukiyo-e Vocaloid designs printed not onto paper, but skateboard decks.

 

But arguably the coolest part of the event is an ukiyo-e stamping workshop where you can make your own copy of the super-deformed version of the Great Wave Miku painting.

Admission to the museum, which has a number of other, non-Vocaloid-related displays as well, is just 550 yen (US$3.50), with an additional charge of 500 yen more for the ukiyo-e workshop. Odds are that’ll still leave you with plenty of room in your budget, and the museum’s giftshop will also be offering prints, pins, keyholders, fans, and other Vocaloid ukiyo-e items.

Polaris -Icons and Artists Across the Ages-, as the mini exhibition is officially titled runs from September 19 to January 11.

Location information
Printing Museum, Tokyo / 印刷博物館
Address: Tokyo-to, Bunkyo-ku, Suidobashi 1-3-3, Toppan Koishikawa Honsha Building
東京都文京区水道1丁目3番3号TOPPAN小石川本社ビル
Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Closed Mondays (or Tuesday if preceding Monday is a holiday)
Website

Source: PR Times, Printing Museum, Tokyo
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times, Printing Museum, Tokyo (1, 2)
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