Painting: Octopus
In 2010, one of the main stories of the World Cup was that of the German prognosticating octopus Paul, who accurately selected the winners of several football matches. This sparked my interest in painting Octopuses and this masterpiece, which was painted soon after, was the stunning result.
Despite the great visual interest that octopi provide, they have been extremely rare in the canon of Western Art. I cannot thing of a single instance of a famous Western artist who has painted an octopus, although some of Piscasso's female nudes seem to have been influenced by the polymorphous form of the tentacled beast of the deep, but, of course, this could just be a coincidence.
In Japanese art it is a very different story. In this case it is hard to think of a single famous Japanese artist who hasn't depicted an octopus, the most well-known case being Hokusai's famous - most would say notorious - The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife.
Despite the great visual interest that octopi provide, they have been extremely rare in the canon of Western Art. I cannot thing of a single instance of a famous Western artist who has painted an octopus, although some of Piscasso's female nudes seem to have been influenced by the polymorphous form of the tentacled beast of the deep, but, of course, this could just be a coincidence.
In Japanese art it is a very different story. In this case it is hard to think of a single famous Japanese artist who hasn't depicted an octopus, the most well-known case being Hokusai's famous - most would say notorious - The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife.
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