This 'n That Thursdays: The Art of Keita Sagaki

 Artist Keita Sagaki (from Pinterest)

In addition to dogs, I seem to be obsessed with art lately.  Last week I mentioned the newly unveiled official portraits of the Obamas, and this week I discovered the unique art of Keita Sagaki.  This artist draws pen and ink recreations of famous artworks, but forms the images from numerous original tiny Japanese cartoon characters, many of the type known as manga.  The figures are woven together to form a replica of well-known paintings, and the intricate pattern is only noticeable when viewed up close.  One of the artist's best-known works is a rendition of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa:

From Scene360

Here is a closer look at some of the detail in the image:

From Scene360 (go to the source for a much larger image)

And below are a few more examples of Keita Sagaki's works:

Rendition of The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai
(from Scene360)

Detail from rendition of The Birth of Venus by Sandro Boticelli
(from Imgrum)

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco
(from Spoon & Tamago)

As the last piece indicates, not all of Sagaki's creations are reproductions of old masterpieces.  He also draws likenesses of architecture and landscapes as well as original works, and has even participated in commercial ventures for companies like Expedia and Mercedes-Benz.  Sagaki's illustrations are so intricate that one could spend hours examining all of the detail.  The young artist's works have been exhibited in galleries and I think it is only a matter of time before he becomes more widely known.  I would love to see a collection of his works come to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta!  It would be wonderful to actually purchase one of his art pieces, but I am afraid it would be well beyond our means.  You can find out more about Keita Sagaki at his website here.  You can also listen to a rather robotic CNN report about the artist on the YouTube video below:

If you are fluent in Japanese you can watch an interview with the artist here (there is an English subtitles option, but the translation is not very good).  The artist himself has videos on YouTube showing details of two of his works (Two of Us and The Gestaltzerfall of Venus) which you can select to view here.