City and Forest, by Katy Wu

A blog reader sent me this link: “A collection of artworks inspired by the animated film My Neighbour Totoro, celebrating reverence for nature. The artworks were auctioned off to help preserve the ancient Japanese forest that, in turn, inspired the movie.” Most of the art from the site wears its Anime inspirations quite prominently, but I found this paper cut out illustration, by a young illustrator who works at Pixar, to be particularly evocative. I think it gets at the delicate tension between nature and culture—the city and the garden, both with their own needs for creative cultivation “City and Forest,” by Katy Wu, from the Totoro Forest Project benefit auction, on exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, September 2008–February 2009 :: thanks Shu Ming!