Event period: 2024/3/20 (Wed) - 25/3 (Mon)
Location: Art Gallery Kitano 1F
The first solo exhibition of 2024 is from Kyoto. This is my fifth time at Art Gallery Kitano. For writers/artists who have held solo exhibitions, attracting customers is an eternal challenge. This gallery faces a main street, and is in a great location with constant foot traffic. If you don't attract the expected number of customers, it could be because you haven't made full use of the window or you lack the ability to advertise. Even though I'm the one who said it, this time the challenge weighed heavily on me.
For the window display at my current Kyoto solo exhibition, I based it on my usual style, but I also tried rolling the books around in a slightly messy way, to set up small hooks that would subconsciously grab the attention of passersby.
It rained every single day during the six-day event. In fact, it even snowed unseasonably on the first and second days. It was quite difficult to get people to open their umbrellas and come into the store in such weather. However, this is not an area of work where I can use the weather as an excuse, so this is a big challenge for me going forward.
The world changes when you step into the exhibition. Each piece was set in a handmade book-shaped frame that maximized the quality of the work, and the pieces were neatly arranged at equal intervals. Customers who were interested took their time to look at each piece carefully.
One issue is that the volume is too large. There are many captions, and perhaps there is too much information. Next time, I will try to make it a little easier to read.
Many people came to my solo exhibition for the first time. Some people had been following me on social media for several years, and finally got to see my work in person. I was truly happy, and it reminded me that if I don't increase the number of people like me, I will continue to lose out as an artist.
The weather was not good for my solo exhibition in Kyoto. There were many issues to be resolved. During these six days, I strongly felt that I needed to make an effort to attract more people to my exhibition and to get passersby to enter the exhibition.
I don't think I've ever had such bad weather throughout my entire solo exhibition. I'm really grateful to everyone who came despite the bad weather. I need to polish it even more so that people think, "It was worth going." And I want those who couldn't come to think, "I should have gone after all."
My next solo exhibition in Kyoto will be in September. I will do my best to complete the homework I brought home this time. See you again in September.