OH my JAPAN! artblog no.28
well my friends i am delighted to report that i had a most splendid trip to Japan this july. Japan is the lovliest place to visit, well i thought so anyhow! being from Australia, the flight is fast and the time difference not consequential, as only an hour is the change. we had the opportunity to travel all around, look at the culture, the food, the scenery and the art. it was so splendid.
since i was a young thing, i have been immersed in the culture of Japan, without never really visiting the country itself. a few of my close relatives had Japanese partners and therefore the influence represented itself. as i spoke in my last blog, i have always been curious of this culture. my nanna had a plethora of Japanese crockery, dolls, teacups and the like which now are memories and as i had visited this place, these items have taken on new meanings for me. my aunt who was Japanese even made me a box out of paper when i was young, i still have it as a treasured piece to this day. the patterns and the beauty of nature is displayed in all of Japanese art in such a unique, simple, neat and glorious way.
i was so glad to visit Tokyo and many villages by the sea and go to various contemporary and traditional galleries in Japan. my first gallery was team labs borderless it was an amazing digital experience. i really did feel like i was in another universe, the worlds were breathtakingly digital, magical and from otherlands. as well as a sensory experience, one room even gave me a tear in the corner of my eye it was soo splendid. the pure imagination and brilliant fun of this digital experience was unbelievable, the power bill must be quite high too! all those lights!
art stores in Tokyo were next level, well literally the two i went to were 5 floors or more of art supplies…. they also had a plethora of stationary too, but still sensational and so well stocked, i was in art store heaven for a couple of hours….. one was called Sekaido and the other was called Itoya… if i go back to Japan one day, i will take an empty suitcase just for art and stationary…. speechless i am, really! The Suntory Museum of Art named after the whiskey was lovely, here we saw traditional screens, embroideries, woodblock prints and the most beautiful haircombs i have ever seen…
next was the Mitsubishi Ichigo Kan Museum in Tokyo where we just caught the Renoir and Cezanne, two masters who pioneered modernism. i was chuffed at the unexpected nature of being able to have such a gift of art from Europe in Japan, the exhibition was extensive and had many artworks from both artists that I had never seen in real life before, there is nothing like the real painting made by the masters hand, as the images are lovely but the actual work made by the artist in real time is so special.
Aomori Museum of Art was our next big gallery, here we again were surprised to see Chagall backdrops for the ballet on display and the most spectacular NARA Yoshitomo’s works as well as the Aomori dog which is in the image. i have never seen his work and was glad to be introduced, such sweet simplicity and special beauty in his depiction of puppies, children and childlike forms. we are all children within. another outstanding museum was in Otaru it was the Nitori Art Museum which opened my eyes once again to the plethora of European influences on Japanese painting and drawing in the early 20th Century. so many French Lalique glass sculptures and vases, European furniture, Meissen crockery was all on display, this was due to the early tall ships and shipping from Europe to Japan back in the day. did i mention the satsuma vases??? breathtaking detail…our final 2 galleries were in Kagoshima City Museum of Art which had a variety of paintings from traditional Japanese Art of Kagoshima to a local Art Society where I met an artist called Miyamoto Atsushi who made me a badge out of fabric that he used to make his own artworks, in a quilted style. The last place where I met a lovely artist called Yuko Kurihara and she was selling her artworks, postcards and even stickers above the Caran D’Ache store in Ginza. Her work was so inspiring and beautiful depicting oysters, fruits, melons and the like in all different patterning techniques using the Caran D’Ache materials. it was such a gift to meet her. i was so inspired by Japan Art and culture, surely in the not too distant future Japan style may be present in my art making.