#10-Kyoto 202203 End

March 28, 2022

Event period: March 16th (Wed) - March 21st (Mon) 2022
Location: Art Gallery Kitano 1F

It has been 10 months since my solo exhibition in Kyoto in June last year. I would never have imagined back then that Kyoto would be in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic this year. That's because the homework I wrote down in my reflection notebook after my last solo exhibition was mostly about how to deal with tourists from Japan and abroad.

We started preparing for this exhibition at the end of 2021, and there were no signs of a dramatic improvement in the situation in the spring, so I was relieved that we didn't have to complete our response to overseas customers 100%.However, it seems that we will need to continue to make progress on things like the English notation of the works, taking future developments into account.

Art Gallery Kitano faces the main street of Sanjo Kawaramachi. A display that catches the eye of pedestrians while maintaining the worldview of your work... is difficult. The glass works themselves are not suitable for catching the eye because they are so small. However, if you only have a poster of an enlarged photo, it will be lost among the signs and displays in the city. What is needed to hook both inside and outside the consciousness is a slight sense of incongruity. It needs to make the viewer think "huh?" instantly. But if it is too eccentric, it will ruin the cityscape and lower the level of the art. That is how difficult it is to create an eye-catching or hook in this modern age where we are overwhelmed with information.

As for me, I have piled up large books that I have created. In this age of increasing electronic books, huge, thick books are an alien presence. The unfamiliar or forgotten sight is the hook and eye-catcher. It is my own kind of impact, and a device that preserves (or amplifies) the worldview of the work.

One of the themes of this exhibition was "simple and attractive." For customers who happen to enter the gallery while strolling around town, too much information can make them feel uncomfortable. On the other hand, if it's too simple, the exhibition can come across as stilted and stiff. It was difficult to find the right balance.

I have also decided to hold a solo exhibition in Kyoto next spring. I hope that next year we will be able to show each other smiles, shake hands, hug each other, and talk about our hobbies without any worries.