Last Day to Open

On the last day, I had two pairs of visitors whose places I usually visit to. It was an interesting and honorable experience to be in the opposite position. In discussion of working in a gallery space where the staff members are expected to welcome visitors, it teaches me when I see how people in other businesses welcome visitors. And those people who I welcomed today has an excellent attitude to their visitors in different ways.

Gu-no-Ne is a shop near my parents, Sakurajousui which is the area where I grew up. The shop sells mostly hand-made or selected products with a working studio space at the back. They only open once or twice a week, but you can view what's inside from the front which is all glass window. It was really exciting to find such a creative and interesting space in the neighborhood where there are hardly any contemporary products or art you can find. The two young creators who run the shop seemed to very much valuing the joyful moment in a day, with the belief that creativity grows from the beauty of day-to-day living. Last year when I was living there I walked pass the street in rush all the time due to the business. I wished to have an opportunity to share my creativity with them. So it was very happy to welcome my project which was slowly constructed day by day.

Hirodi is a restaurant in Ginza, where I worked a couple of years ago to support my first studio residency at Youkobo. I used to rely on hospitality industry to support my income like many artists, of course tough but it gave me a chance to contact closely with culture and people of particular localities. With Hidori, it was like in the crossing of high-end Japanese modernity and contemporary western culture. Being near Imperial Hotel and offices of white-color people, I imagined that some of them might be the clients for commercial galleries in Ginza. Even now, I cannot count the number of zero properly on their price lists but I learned human needs to appreciate something special, different from what's in the everyday. Hidori sincerely offers people dreams to eat.

Coming back to the question of what youkobo gallery can offer, I start to think, each artist who use the space will decide, direct and enjoy the encounter with visitors. What is important is really to spend time with the place and its specificity as much as exploring their own works. Once artists decide to show their works, it is decision also to present works for communication. How to communicate with viewers are up-to artists but it is fun to be original about the regards, as people do offer so many insight to artists like how it was across the 5 weeks for the project.