live painting

Live painting is very hip in japan just now - that is to say, painting in front of an audience. Karl, a new aquaintence from Kyoto, was talking about the demand for it at the last design matters talk at the apple store and sure enough, yesterday, when I visited the art show at River Place in Osaka there was some going on. The show comprised of about 50 stalls with local painters and deisgners and there was a live painting wall for joe public to use too. It had quite a carnival feel and had that surreal quality you get when random people walk about with oversized goats heads and cardboard boxes over their heads. There was also a random guy hitting bits of woods which is the kind of thing, as a child, you don't get and when you're older you still don't get. I guess I could imagine what he was trying to suggest were I to give it the time, but people were interested and it put a smile on my face so I guess he did his job. good fun.