Azito Blog

Impressed by JR...

Wed, 23 May 2012 16:15:00 +0900

Here is the new post on Azito of the exhibition “Turning around” which was held in Tokyo. Artworks dealing with political issues were getting together. These directly political art is rarely seen in Japan.

Among the all, actually I was really moved by the artist, JR from France. I knew his name and he is one of the street artists but did not know that he actually did these great projects. Seeing the whole presentation he did at TED (winning the prize of 2011!) three times, I especially love the two episodes below,

—In Israel, he put the pictures of the faces of the Israel people and the palestian people next together in a large print. He asked the local people whether they can find who is from Israel and who is from Palestine, but nobody could answer…

Very simply but very strongly showing people are not different as we think… Through his photos, I also felt his deep love toward the human being. Every face is shining and showing their pride to be what they are.

—In India, it is prohibited to post people’s face on a wall, so JR put white papers which are actually painted with glue, but look like just simple white papers in the beginning. The streets in India are dusty and after a while later, faces appeared on the white papers.

How smart he is! This cannot be done without a large enthusiasm toward art and the will to realize the project. I respect him since he holds the respectful thoughts toward people and is actively moving around the world with his foot.

He is a man with a big heart…

Here is the whole video…

I saw the dvd of “Herb and Dorothy” which I bought...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:33:00 +0900

I saw the dvd of “Herb and Dorothy” which I bought at the Art Fair Tokyo. It was originally a film released 3 years ago and attracted many people even in Japan where it is said that the movie of contemporary art is difficult to get popularity.

Herb and Dorothy are enthusiastic couple who collected emerging American art over 30 years. The collection, at this moment, became historically important for the art history and they decided to donate their collection to the National Gallery (museum in Washington). They are not super rich collectors as we usually imagine (Herb was a post officer and Drothy was a librarian), but their steady activity of collecting art definitely created a legend.

Here are some of the words left in my mind…

“Every work is in our mind, same as your favorite books or records…”

More than 2000 works were packed in their apartment in New York before they were donated to the museum. So it is physically impossible to see all of the works. But it is not a problem for them, since all of the works are in their mind. Dorothy explained that it is the same as we have many books which we might not read but set in the shelf. Making a decision must be the most important part of their collection. They only buy works they “like”.

“collection is more worth than money”

They have never sold their works which is worth millions of dollars in today’s value. Herb said that he understands that people need to sell works in the secondary market and market is important for the artists to live, although, the collection is more worth than exchanging it to money for them. They can keep them in “one place” by purchasing it and the collection is like their child, literally. I learned how deeply they are attached to each artwork.

Megumi Sasaki was touched by this “legend” and decided to create this film. In this DVD, she said that this film is not only about a documentary of a collector but their life is also asking us about how we can live a worth life beside the numbers of money. Find something you can deeply dedicate into by believing in your own perception and live your life enthusiastically. That is what I learned from them.

Their collection had doubled to 4000(!) and the National Gallery cannot manage them anymore. So they decided to donate 50 works to each 50 states. This process was also filmed and I am looking forward to seeing their next story titled “50x50” which will be released later of 2012.

Herb & Dorothy [DVD] on amazon in US.

Herb & Dorothy [DVD] [Import] on amazon in Japan.

This year, Art Fair Tokyo recorded more than 53000 visitors...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:40:09 +0900

This year, Art Fair Tokyo recorded more than 53000 visitors which is the highest ever. What is unique about this fair is they do not limit the participants to contemporary art but also to antiques.

I personally enjoyed the fair talking with artists and gallerists:)

I found a interview of Ryutaro Takahashi one of the most...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:30:04 +0900

I found a interview of Ryutaro Takahashi one of the most powerful collector in Japan. He has started to build up his collection since 1997 and now it counts more than 2000 works including many important works to catch the movement in Japan.

Picked up some of his words from the video.

What does collecting art means for him;

…whereas buying the newest work of art at the newest place involves some kind of major engagement, or better perhaps, it feels like buy the whole movement of a new artist present a new work. Just looking at it isn’t satisfying anymore as buying means getting involved in that movement. That is my way of contributing to art.

“Buying means getting involve in that movement.” How powerful that this statement is… It touched my heart to remind what is important for connecting collectors and artworks. Buying art may start as decorating a room but what ultimately it goes is participating in the movement and enhancing it.

How he sees the Japanese contemporary art;

I haven’t seen demonstrating students here in Japan in more than twenty years. I don’t believe that they are all perfectly happy, but at least they seem to be relaxed and without any sense of crisis that would make them worry about their lives and their future. Plus, if they want, they can spend all day devoted to the “system of desire” as I would call it, defined by the so-called subculture of manga, animation and all kinds of games. They do look a bit tensed up these days, but only five or ten years everyone could find employment and young people’s futures were secure. One can perhaps sum it up as “kiddy culture”, but surely it had never previously happened in the world that a generation grew up indulging in subculture while having lots of money to spend. In this sense, I ‘m seeing the Japanese youth as something like the world’s biggest experimentation field, on which eventually emerged the so-called contemporary art with the likes of Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara.

Young Japanese people had plenty of time to spend in subculture and that is the base of where Japanese contemporary art is born and it never happened anywhere else. This is an interesting insight.

What he cares for collecting art;

I constantly try to focus my attention on the pointy kind of energy that leaves newly born minorities with no choice but to excite people in various ways.

The new will be born from minority and he is trying to sense it from each work. Art always stands with the new energy in the history. I respect him that he could sense it from 15 years ago.

The video above is part2 and the later of his words written above are from part 3. See part 1 to 3 on this page. If you want to see Takahashi collection, check this website, here. Half but over 1000 works are uploaded.

He is a psychiatrist and not like an extremely rich successful asset holder. But his enthusiasm toward art is more like an artist. I went to hear a talk show by him and one gallerist and will be post about it later.

What is needed in today's art world...

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:34:31 +0900

Rethinking about what is needed in today’s art world and what Azito should do, I revised the “About Us” page on our website.

Thanks to internet, artworks got many chances to get much more exposure. But I feel something is missing… People are not connected with the deeper part of the artwork and there are few chances to do so. I want to change this situation to make art’s existence better in our society. These are the 3 points we want to provide.

1. You can know the work’s background deeply.

Knowing the work visually is the first step. We want you to feel much more connected with the artwork and the artists behind them through our website. Since we have a strong partnership with the galleries who manage and know the artists in person, we can provide rich information about the artists, not only about their biography but also their personality, thoughts and the background of their artwork. This is essential to enjoy art.

2. You can support artists’ ideas by purchasing the work.

When you purchase an artwork through Azito, it means that you are supporting the artist since your money will also go to the artist through our partner galleries. Our transactions are different from purchases in the secondary market, where deals occur only between the buyer and seller. If you purchase an artist’s artwork, it means that you like their work, but you are also praising and endorsing their ideas and philosophy. And showing your appreciation through owning an artist’s work is a commendable way to support the artist.

3. You can become a leading collector in your neighbor.

Viewing an artwork physically is the best experience. There is no doubt about it. But in fact, not everyone has the chance to view Japanese contemporary artwork in their nearest museum. When you become a collector of a specific artist, please show his/her artwork to your friends and families and increase interest in your area. It might help the artist hold an exhibition in your city in the future. As art knows no boundaries, we ship all over the world with a simple click. In fact, our audience is 30% from Europe, 25% from the US, 25% from Asia, 15% from Japan, 5% from Australia. Our customers range from collectors in Dresden to Alaska.

About Us: http://www.azito-art.com/about/

From the 21-st century, not the mega rich collectors or museums will be the only influential players in the art world but the numbers of middle class collectors who decide what to buy by themselves with their own sense will move more fluidly and change the art world, I believe. And I want to help those people to meet inspiring artworks.

Very nice video:) Kusama is talking with her word about what she...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:19:00 +0900

Very nice video:) Kusama is talking with her word about what she thought in her early days…

I liked how Frances Morris, the curator of Kusama’s exhibition at Tate, praised about her talent. She said…

“…I think that is sort about managing madness of Kusama, which in so outlying insane, which is really interesting, she’s used her trauma, she’s used her experience in her past, she’s been able to harness experiences that might drive other people insane to enormously productive events…. she is extordernary person in that way.”

Managing one’s madness and changing it to creativity… Easy to say, but it must be tough. I respect her as a person who faced her fate and showed her own energy on the right track.

[Special Present!] Azito is giving away Matsui Fuyuko’s...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:45:00 +0900

[Special Present!]

Azito is giving away Matsui Fuyuko’s exhibition catalogue.

If you are in Tokyo area until March 18, 2012, grab the chance to get a pair ticket given to 5 chosen ones.

Just apply from the form in the end of this Fuyuko Matsui’s exhibition report.

http://www.azito-art.com/topics/exhibition/fuyuko-matsui-becoming-friends-with-all-the-children-in-the-world-at-yokohama-museum-of-art.html

Wow! It must be fun creating this:) alecshao: Katharina Grosse,...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:35:48 +0900

Wow! It must be fun creating this:)

alecshao:

Katharina Grosse, Infinite Logic Conference, 2003

There was a talk by Marc Sands, director of Audience and Media...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:27:51 +0900

Marc Sands / Director of Media, Tate

Alex Fleetwood/Founder of Hide and Seek

There was a talk by Marc Sands, director of Audience and Media of Tate and Alex Fleetwood, founder of Hide and Seek at Mori Museum.

Marc talked about how Tate is using the degital media (website, blog, facebook, twitter etc) and why they are doing it. Here are some of my notes;

-Digital media will be a strong vehicle to engaged people to Tate and artworks. People visit exhibitions but do not really buy catalogues. They are somewhat scary about art. And digital media can break this barrier and engage people more into art.

-Tate’s website will be renewed within a week. What he cared is to make the new web-site to be audience-centered not organization-centered. For example, the menu “collection” does not make sense for the audience and he changed it to the word “art/artists”.

-Some thinks if the website provide too much information of the exhibition, people may not come to see it, but the fact is opposite. Using digital media is an inevitable and we must go with flow.

-Tate’s website is globally viewed 1.1-1.8 million (view or visit, sorry I forgot…) / month. 40% are international audience. Facebook insight shows that their fans are 40%from UK and 60% from other countries. (Even people cannot visit physically, they enjoy seeing what Tate is doing.)

-They have a large collection database opened online but not that much viewed. So they tweeted “what is the weather will be like?”, picking one work with a rainbow which shows the whether. This little attempt succeed to draw audience in the collection database. They do this every Friday. The key is how to engage people to Tate or the artwork.

-Tate uses a blog to enhance the discussion of the exhibition. They try not to use curatorial/professional words to interpret the works. Feedback is always welcomed and needed to be replied in some ways.

-Tate is funded 40% by the government which is expected to decrease under recent circumstances, 60% by private sector. Tate has 98,000 members and this membership will get more important to sustain the fund. Also digital media will provide Tate other new ways to do commerce for the members and engage them to fund.

-Tate joined the google art project as the first organization and Google will be open their second art project in the later 2012.

-Alex created an iphone app “Tate trump”. It is a trump game like bridge. You choose several artworks from the tate collection and use is as a trump. The trump is scored by the system and you can play it with your friends. Their attempt is to engage people to artworks in a casual way, like playing games.

I strongly agree that digital media can break this barrier and engage people more into art. There are still a lot to do in this field. Marc has insight into internet technology and I felt energetic enthusiasm from his presentation. From my perspective, MOMA or Brooklyn museum were the leading organization which were taking the advantage of the digital media but from now, Tate will also be a hot stock.

Photo Report: Japanese galleries in Art Stage Singapore 2012 [on...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:11:02 +0900

Photo Report: Japanese galleries in Art Stage Singapore 2012 [on Azito]

Azito’s partner galleries, Yamamoto gendai, NANZUKA and Mori Yu gallery joined the art fair in Singapore last month.

This is a report including other galleries participating from Japan.

If you could not make it to the fair, please check this:)

Went out to see Aki Eimizu’s solo exhibition at MA2...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:07:00 +0900

Went out to see Aki Eimizu’s solo exhibition at MA2 gallery.

Very soft atmosphere… You must see her works closely clicking on images. The paintings are drew in layers. The grey is not consist of one color but pink and light blue are also existing there.

Tremendous number of white little dots were drawn by hand which looks like a cloud from the far.

Yuichi Yokoyama ’s artworks were shown at new stylish...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:21:00 +0900

Yuichi Yokoyama ’s artworks were shown at new stylish Tsutaya shop in Daikanyama.

Tsutaya is a rental dvd/CD shop also selling books. They opened a new site called T-site, mainly targeting the high-end elderly. Old magazines are free to read and there was a gentle DJ to play gramophone records.

T-site » http://tsite.jp/daikanyama/

Recommended to stop by when you come to Tokyo but be careful it will be very crowded on weekends.

Went out to see the group exhibition at Ai Kowada gallery.

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:19:00 +0900

Aki Inomata "world outside your world"

Yutaka Aoki "untitled"

Hitomi Kanoh "mountain (11-2)"

Satoshi Otsuka "Puzzle #14" "Puzzle #15"

Satoshi Otsuka "Puzzle #14" "Puzzle #15"

Hiroshige Fukuhara "the night"

Hiroshige Fukuhara "the night"

Yosuke Bandai "321"

Yosuke Bandai "321"

Yu Akashi "drown2"

Went out to see the group exhibition at Ai Kowada gallery.

Tadashi Kawamata was in Paris when the disaster occurred in...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:37:57 +0900

Tadashi Kawamata was in Paris when the disaster occurred in March 11 2011. In some video, he saw the garbage driven by the Tsunami, floating on the water very smoothly. This artwork was inspired from that view.

eyecurious:

Tadashi Kawamata, Under the Water (exhibition at Kamel Mennour until 28 January)

I went to hear the talk show by Eikoh Hosoe (right in the photo...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:56:00 +0900

I went to hear the talk show by Eikoh Hosoe (right in the photo above) with Donald Keen (left in the photo) at BLD gallery. Hosoe now holds an exhibition titled “Kama itachi” (a Japanese Yokai moster, riding on a gust of wind and cutting people’s skin on the legs) which is a series of photographs taken in 1965 with a Japanese choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata in Akita prefecture, Japan.

Donald Keen was a contributing author for his photo book simultaneously re-printed with the exhibition titled as same as “Kama itachi” which was originally published in 1969.

The talk started with reading the essay “Haiku and photograph and Japanese” written by Donald Keen. And here are my notes remained in my mind.
*NOT in chronological order. (K) for Donald Keen said (H) for Ekikoh Hosoe said.

(K) To create a Haiku, you have to trim all extra words into 17 letters. This must be a big restriction for Western people.

(K) Haiku resembles photography in terms of having restrictions to express what you want to. So this could be a medium suits to Japanese.

(K) How Hosoe had approached with the village people was completely different from others who did photography in the same era. Hosoe’s photograph is not a documentary but more than that. It is more capturing the real spirit of human being.

(K) Hosoe depicts the mysterious and strange part of human being. Life is not only filled with beauty. And that is why I never get bored of seeing Hosoe’s work.

(H) In this “Kama itachi” seires, I tried to express my memory of evacuee life in Yonezawa, Yamagata prefecture, when I was little.

(H) It was a poor little village and one strange man was in this small community. The people’s life were suffering and not easy at all. But by looking down on this weird guy, they could survive their life. There was a feeling of “I am better than ‘that’ guy.” They talked with that guy or spare food for him but never let him enter their house. They kept some sort of distance between that guy. This was not a special situation in my village but which could be seen in all other the rural areas in Japan.

(H) In the 1950s, there were many photographers taking the social problems from a “socialistic” aspect, such as the photos of working-class people. I agree that they were important to document the fact. But as an “artwork”, I was fighting against them and wanted to capture the “real” not in a surface level but in depth.

(H) I and Tatsumi Hijikata used to be very good friends and both of us were originally from the Tohoku area. We wanted to capture this Tohoku’s old atmosphere we shared in our mind so that this project “Kama itachi” was born. “Kama itachi” must not be able to be realized without Tatsumi Hijikata performing that weird guy.

Here are some works from “Kama itachi”

These are all staged photographs meaning simply unreal scenery. Although this “unreal” is capturing the “real” in depth. ”Weird guy” in the photograph must be a existence something we want to ignore. But in fact, I have to admit that we are mutual interdependent even with him.

The book is sold on amazon => Eikoh Hosoe: Kamaitachi

After talking with Matsuyama and thinking of the feature of his...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:38:07 +0900

"Kirin Code Green" by Tomokazu Matsuyama

Side of "Kirin Code Green"

Side of "Shining Where You'd Be"

"Shining Where You'd Be" by Matsuyama

After talking with Matsuyama and thinking of the feature of his work, one quote by Steve Jobs came up to my mind.

“I didn’t invent the language or mathematics I use. I make little of my own food, none of my own clothes. Everything I do depends on other members of our species and the shoulders that we stand on. And a lot of us want to contribute something back to our species and to add something to the flow.” by Steve Jobs

Renovating knowledge from the past and our generation into a new value. I felt this mind-set was literally the same thing that Matsuyama is addressing through art.

Matsuyama has created a personal aesthetic world that comes and goes between the figurative and the abstract, the real and the imagined. His motifs are often taken from Edo-period woodblock prints and paintings but they present a refreshing appearance on life today. Blending artistic tropes from the East to West, he delivers a visual vocabulary that rectifies the past, just as it begins to explore our new aesthetics as Steve Jobs created iphone by combining, computer, mobile phone and google apps.

Eric Shicer, Director of the Andy Wahol museum, described his style as;
“a hip hop musician cutting and scratching and mixing variant sounds to innovate and perfect a new composition, but instead of using music, Tomokazu Matsuyama blends multiple images into a new visual culture that is easily understood regardless of national background.”
by EricShiner in “Tomokazu Matsuyama: A Floating World Redux”

As it is getting easier to share thoughts and ideas globally thanks to internet, this mindset must be required more than ever to inovate a new value to the world. Be open to others, not only to the past but also to our neighbors. Even in my own country, there must be many kinds of communities and trends which I might have passed by unconsciously. Matsuyama’s artwork reminds me of this important attitude.

Know more about “Kirin Code Green” here and “Shining Where You’d Be” here.

A exhibition review from Singapore! Inspired by Sugito’s...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:37:00 +0900

A exhibition review from Singapore!

Inspired by Sugito’s trip to Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture in Japan, where the scenic countryside both natural and manmade, captured his imagination.

Message from Sugito ; ‘Driving along in the countryside, up in Hanamaki, there are houses and barns with black-painted rooftops, perfectly maintained. There is a time when the rice fields turn yellow, the rooftops vanish into the sky, and the mountains and trees turn black. All being watched after.’

[Azito Update]

I visited mori yu gallery today to see this exhibition. These...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:16:07 +0900

Toshiki Teramura at Mori Yu gallery

drawings by Toshiki Teramura

I visited mori yu gallery today to see this exhibition.

These are paintings by Toshiki Teramura. Looks like a scene taken from some dramas or movies. For example, the first painting makes me feel as if I was found by him for a serious reason and want to hide from him.

Intense silence and mysterious stories are existing in each painting. Teramura created all of these scenery from his imagination, or I should say, from our common memory. We must have experienced these situation maybe in our real world or in some movies we have seen.

As you see in the last photograph, he does a lot of sketches and drawing to decide the structure of the screen and move it onto canvas. The skin of the human being is very smooth as if it was drawn by computer graphic software. That maybe affecting us to feel a spooky atmosphere floating between real and memory.

Happy new year!! This is my first exhibition visited this year....

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:12:00 +0900

Happy new year!!

This is my first exhibition visited this year. Fuyuko Matsui at Yokohama museum.

She is an artist dealing with the negative emotional part of human being such as fear, depression and enmity. The work must affect differently depending on viewer’s emotion. Especially good for the one feeling depressed, I thought. It must heal one’s feeling by being with it. Not encouraging nor pulling up, but just cuddle up to those emotions. It is like a calm song you hear when you are feeling sad.

Photos from the group show at Maki fine arts, Tokyo. I like...

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:23:00 +0900

Yuken Teruya

close up

Peter Zimmermann

Midori Harima

Michiko Nakatani

Michiko Nakatani

Photos from the group show at Maki fine arts, Tokyo.

I like Yuken Teruya’s “結い、You - I”. US troopers printed on traditional Okinawan Bingata Kimono.

Yuken Teruya’s website (below) is very organized for an artist. (nice!)

http://yuken.brandonstore.com/projects-1/you-i-you-i

And the work by Peter Zimmermann was beautiful…