Friday, December 24, 2010

Wild Wild Wave???



Here's a real life wave picture that immediately reminded me of the Hokusai wave. But hey, there's a also a real life surfer there, which Hokusai probably would never had imagined.

This picture is from a report in Surfertoday. The event was the Wild Wild Wave El Fronton Invitational, at the Canary Islands. The surfer's name is Jeff Hubbard, the champion of the event. The wave is certainly deserved to be called the Wild Wild Wave -- nothing freaque about it!

By the way here's Hokusai's famous woodblock print the "Great Wave" also known as the "Breaking Wave Off Kanagawa":

Is it art imitating nature or nature imitating art?

Incidentally I particularly like this autobiographical sketch by Hokusai (1760-1849) himself:
"From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was fifty I had published a universe of designs. but all I have done before the the age of seventy is not worth bothering with. At seventy five I'll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am eighty you will see real progress. At ninety I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At a hundred I shall be a marvelous artist. At a hundred and ten everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokosai, but today I sign my self 'The Old Man Mad About Drawing."
He had grand plans for himself to live to at least 110 years old. Too bad God took him away 20 years prematurely. I like his positive spirit. Way to go!

1 comment:

rash guard said...

Remarkable waves but not as wild as Hokusai's woodblock.