Pat's Blog

Sometime in 2004 I took a trip to the Mori Tower gallery in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo to see the Kusamatrix Exhibition, which featured, among others, the art of Kusama Yayoi. She turned up in her permanent red wig and wheelchair to the show.



Now a living legend, fabulously wealthy and fulltime resident (by choice) at a mental hospital in Tokyo. ‘The dot lady’ as I’ve always thought of her, is a woman living on the very edge of reality/insanity and we’re all the richer for it. Perhaps it’s from this place on the precipice of the know and the unknown & staring into the great singularity that she’s capable of seeing & painting the world she describes;



“Red, green and yellow polka dots can be the circles representing the earth, the sun, or the moon. Their shapes and what they signify do not really matter. I paint polka dots on the bodies of people, and with those polka dots, the people will self-obliterate and return to the nature of the universe.
An excerpt from “Infinity Nets”, Kusama Yayoi Autobiography



Well, she’s in town in the form of window-dressings for one of Takamatsu’s largest and best known department stores right in the heart of town. More to the point, she’s accepted design commissions from the swank French bag makers, Louis Vuitton.



Art-as-industry, this must be a lucrative deal for both indeed. Kusama’s art fetches millions for single paintings and with the help of numerous assistants that all big-time artists utilize, she really cranks this stuff out.



What I liked was the use of the ‘light-box’ technique to photo her bags etc. The Canadian artist Jeff Wall is very skillful with this and he has produced some stunning stuff such as this ‘a sudden gust of wind (after Hokusai) based on one of Hokusai’s Edo era woodblock prints.
http://www.artfund.org/what-we-do/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/5504/enlarged/1/a-sudden-gust-of-wind-after-hokusai
Wall uses the same technique of fluorescent lights behind photos printed on large sheets of plastic & there is such a wonderful pull into the visual area with this. Don’t trust me, go take a look, please ..



I took my wife to Osaka before spring to see her solo show at the Osaka Art Gallery and broke protocol by taking a few quick snaps, which are posted here.



I’ve never really understood if Yayoi is just nuts, a shrewd marketing force, or both? Perhaps it really doesn’t matter.

Anyway, please take a look at this when you’re in Takamatsu as it really is a good show and what’s more it’s free.

I’ll be back with more about Takamatsu and art in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep smiling, safe and warm …
  

Walking around the greater Takamatsu area is so often full of pleasant surprises and here’s one for you and also a great place to see.
I’d not heard of it until a couple of friends suggested a visit and I’m glad they did, and I was gratified to see the Shikoku-Mura Gallery in Yashima.



The world-renowned Tadao Ando designed this building with its inner water gardens and his architectural style is distinctive, always beautiful and I never tire of it.



On exhibition is an admix collection from the Jomon period of ancient Japan to a few pieces from the French Impressionists, always held in high esteem by the Japanese. And I suppose everywhere else but the Impressionists do have a special place in their hearts.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5402.html
The map on the link gives the train information to the foot of Mt. Yashima Shikoku Mura and the gallery. This is a combined gallery and Shikoku Mura Village. A ticket for both is 1,000 yen and it’s open year round but from 8:30 a.m.~5:50 p.m. except through April to October when it closes at 5:30 p.m.



All the art on display sits well in the graceful-modern & concrete structure. Ando’s special gift for making the natural light filter through his structures in such an unequaled way makes it particularly so. Tight turns on curved stairs, nooks-and-crannies, unpredictable corridors leading to open areas, there’s such a lot to appreciate in any of Ando’s buildings.



Outside, the garden is very clearly an integral part of Ando’s design for the gallery and it’s meant to be explored & enjoyed as a part of the whole gallery experience.



I’ll be back soon to talk about the Folk-House Open-Air Museum & gallery, which is a part of the Art Village next week.



Until then, and if you’re in Japan please enjoy the lovely Autumnal warmth and the changing seasons. Now is the perfect time for moon viewing. Jack Frost will soon be with us tinting the landscape with his brush and we’ll be in the grip of winter once again.

So see you all again soon …