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11/03/2004: "Japan (Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo)"
If you plan to visit western Japan, I recommend staying in Kyoto, even if your itinerary takes you to Osaka daily, as mine did. Steeped in serenity and the scent of Golden Star trees, Kyoto’s charming scenery truly relaxes after a day of swift sight-seeing. There’s nothing more invigorating than an evening stroll along Kyoto’s rushing Kamo River or through its narrow, moon-lit alleys. Those who stay within walking distance of a Keihan Railway station or near one of the many Kyoto buses that stop at its stations can take direct trains to several Osaka stops. If you purchase a four-day Japan Rail pass, trips begin and end at Kyoto Central Station, itself an architectural wonder. Either way, visit the main station for Tourist Information (9th floor) and the ATM (located in a store across the street in the Kyoto Tower’s basement).
Day 1- Sunday- Kyoto
My primary purpose for visiting western Japan (Kansai) was to experience as many Osaka-architect Tadao Ando buildings as possible. In the U.S., he’s known for the recently built Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Pulitzer Foundation in Saint Louis. I arrived with a list of about a dozen buildings that I wanted to find, but I didn’t have any actual addresses. I felt well on my way when the airport’s Kansai Tourist Information handed me a three-page list, however outdated (May 1995), that offered vague instructions on how to reach the buildings. It turns out that both Kobe and Osaka tourist centers have even more updated lists.
The sun rises and sets early in Japan, so by the time I reached Kyoto and met my host Adam Frelin, it was getting dark. I set out for a stroll along the Kamo River, which I crossed on Marutamachi-dori to check out a massive building shaped like a barrel in the sky. Continuing south, I wound up at the Museum of Kyoto, the rare museum open late on Sundays. Though the didactic material is only in Japanes, I gleaned an overview of Kyoto’s cultural history, including its historical role for movie production. I then met Adam for dinner at a super-cheap conveyor sushi bar near the entrance of the Teramachi Shopping Arcade. Searching for one bar, we accidentally stumbled into Shangri-La, a Nepalese-themed bar, where we met people who invited us to a nearby Hip Hop club.
The Museum of Kyoto- http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/org/bunpaku/
Day 2- Monday- Kobe
I traveled to Kobe via Osaka to see some early examples of Ando’s work. The Kobe Information Center across the street from the JR Sannomiya Station provided an Ando map that sent me through a fancy shopping district, oddly reminscent of La Jolla. While I was surprised to learn that Ando got his start designing upscale shopping plazas, I soon found them to be some of the most complex spaces that I’d ever encountered. One walked up and down stairs, traversing maze-like caverns that often integrated shop windows with amazing vistas of nature, activities associated with traditional Japanese gardens. Perhaps the best example is a Kobe bridal shop, whose vaulted window perfectly frames the nearby rolling hills. The notion of urban growth overpowering original garden vistas is a hot topic in Japanese garden design, so it’s interesting to consider a city’s development as potentially infringing upon a building’s pre-set views.
After exploring five upscale malls, I caught the JR train to Nada Station and walked southward toward the harbor to the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Ando’s newest building. Typically closed Mondays, the museum was open since it was a national holiday. Unable to figure out how to enter the museum, I spent about 45 minutes wandering around the building’s periphery, a publicly accessible park presenting myriad experiences. Finally inside, I discovered the museum’s collection and remarkable shows, especially Saburo Muraoka’s touch-oriented sculpture exhibition and Dressing Silk-Road, a thorough ethnological exhibition that ties several current fashion designers to South Central Asian nomadic people’s cultural artifacts. What the well-designed, popular exhibition Universal Symbol of the Brand: Louis Vuitton lacked in rigorousness, it gained in Vuitton’s innovative trunk to furniture transformations a la Andrea Zittel.
A public holiday, the tourist office advised me not to visit the Church of the Wind, since it would most likely be holding weddings all day. Even so, I caught the JR to the next station, mounted the Rokko Mountains via funicular and road the bus to the Rokko Oriental Hotel, whose church is apparently the model for Jude Law’s house in the film Gattica. I totally lucked out. Already 7:30pm, far later than most would dare enter a church, the hotel’s desk clerk escorted me down the fluorescent-lit pathway into the chapel. Left to my own demise, I felt an incredible gratitude, not only for the gorgeous chapel’s generous spirit, but for the moment when chance had intervened on my behalf. Just as I turned to exit, a sudden gust of wind roared through the building.
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art- www.artm.pref.hyogo.jp
Day 3- Tuesday- Osaka
All of the museums normally open Tuesdays were closed, since Monday was a holiday. Osaka’s museums were closed, but not Ando’s Osaka buildings. I started with the Church of the Light in Ibaraki, a town halfway between Kyoto and Osaka. Soon after I arrived, I boarded the No. 2 bus, which dropped me 15 minutes later at the Kasugaokakoen stop. Not seeing the church, I a contemporary home’s doorbell, whose owner gladly escorted me to the church that her husband regularly attends. Now it’s noon on the sunniest of days and I’m at the Church of the Light (1989) built by the United Church of Christ in Japan. I spent about 30 minutes exploring the church’s grounds. Ando has remarked how people complete this church, so it’s unfortunate that no one, not even the man who granted me permission to visit hours earlier, could be found. With its adjacent cedar-paneled and cedar-scented sunday school and office, this is one of the most inspiring building of all times. If you can visit only one church, I recommend this one. However, I have yet to experience Ando’s Church of the Water.
I hopped a cab back to the Ibaraki train station and continued onto Osaka. Given Ando’s Architecture Office’s seeming proximity to JR Osaka Station, I set out to find his headquarters, which turned out to be incredibly well hidden. Kids on bikes lent me their cell phone to call Ando’s office for instructions, but an employee told me that they only tell prospective clients how to get there. I had written him a letter requesting a meeting, but I now just wanted to see the building from the street. After finally finding it, I set off to explore six more Ando stores in the shopping district near Shinsaibashi station. En route to a building called Aranzi Aronzo, I came across Comfort, a store selling used designer clothes. After checking out their Martin Margiela stash, I tried on a rather complicated $120 Yohji Yamamoto dress, which unfortunately didn’t fit right. I then headed southwest to Ando’s Suntory Museum of Art (1994), home to an IMAX Theater and design gallery only a short walk from the Osakako station on the Chuo Line subway. Part of Tempozan Harbor Village, an entertainment complex with the world’s largest ferris wheel and an eight-story acquarium, the museum’s Sky Lounge offers incredible views long after its Gallery closes at 8:00 p.m. I scooted back to Kyoto to meet up for more conveyor sushi. Adam and I later strolled through the Pontocho restaurant district.
Comfort- www.comfort-jp.com
Suntory Art Museum- http://www.suntory.co.jp/culture/smt/
Day 4- Wednesday- Ishiyama, Kishi
This was either going to be the day from hell or my most leisurely day. After arriving too early (8:15 a.m.) to enter the Ginkakuji Temple (silver temple), I meandered down the Philosopher’s Path for about twenty minutes and then caught a cab to the JR Station. I then headed east to Ishiyama, where a glorious 50-minute bus ride through rice paddies ended at the Miho Museum’s entrance pavillion. This museum of all museums, designed by American architect I. M. Pei, features a small, but hand-picked antiquity collection. Foregoing the shuttle, my walk to the actual museum led me through a long mountain tunnel and across an exquisite suspension bridge. The museum’s exhilarating entry is meant to simulate Peach Blossom Spring, an ancient Chinese poem about a fisherman whose walk through a peach orchard leads him to discover Shangri-La. The museum’s cafe picture windows perfectly frame inaccessible dramatic gardens, while other windows facilitate views of two distant buildings, Pei’s massive Carillon Tower (1990) and the massive Shiga Temple designed by the now infamous American architect Minoru Yamasaki (World Trade Center, numerous Saudi Arabian buildings and a Saint Louis project). Bumping into two Cincinnati friends in the museum loo, as I did, made the museum’s picturesque sighting and careful collection even more memorable.
Needing to stay on cue, I got on the next bus to Ishiyama, took a train back to Kyoto, crossed the street for a cash infusion and once again, caught a train to Osaka. In Osaka, I took the JR loop to Tenojji, walked across the street to the Abenobashi Station, and took the Kintetsu-Nagano train headed to Kishi. In Kishi, I caught a Kongo bus for Han-nan Neo-polis, where I eventually discovered yet another Ando wonder, an anthropological museum called the Chikatsu Asuka Museum. If the voyage sounds abstract, just wait. My bus driver, who didn’t speak English, dropped me off and pointed me towards a public park that I later learned was Osaka Prefectural Historical Park, replete with over 200 5th-7th Century burial mounds. While my driver knew the museum was in the park somewhere, I doubt he had ever visited it himself. When I later boarded his bus, he seemed quite relieved. This museum was yet another museum of all museums. Like Ando’s Hyogo Prefectural Museum, the grounds proved as exciting as the museum’s contents. I normally refuse museum acoustiguides, but I totally appreciated wearing this high-tech headset that automatically tuned in whenever I stood in the right spot. Not only did I learn a lot about Japan’s early history, including Korea’s influence, but I enjoyed a remarkable aesthetic experience inside as well as outside. Returning to Kyoto for dinner, Adam and I experienced a fabulous meal of magical vegetable boil at Yasei, a permanent restaurant inside a portable tent. The D.I.Y. loo (squatting up the hill) offered a fabulous view of the tent glowing on Imadegawa-dori about a kilometer east of Kyoto University.
Miho Museum- http://miho.jp
Chikatsu Asuka Museum- www.mediajoy.com/chikatsu/
Day 5-Thursday- Kyoto
Eager to get to Tokyo, I had one day left to focus on Kyoto. I began the day by visiting several contemporary buildings along Kitayama-dori, Arato Isozaki’s wonderful Kyoto Concert Hall and Ando’s super-surreal Garden of Fine Art, a multi-level, maze-like, waterfall plentiful, outdoor museum featuring anonymous sculptural interventions amidst replicas of famous paintings. My 11:00 a.m. tickets for the beyond dreams Sento Imperial Palace provided me access to one of the most incredible gardens I have ever experienced. The garden’s most southern tip offers an exquisite view of five bridges at various distances, recalling the complex pathways intersecting Ando’s buildings. Visiting these gardens was closer to a massage than a walk. Having not yet seen what we call a Japanese Maple Tree, this seemed the opportune time to enquire about this. Our guide seemed genuinely perplexed by the concept of a tree with purple leaves.
After stopping at the ATM for funds, I dropped by the 9th Floor information center to locate an address and to learn how to ask for a one-day bus pass (ichi nichi joshoken). My bus driver understood me, but I totally messed things up when I dropped a 500 Yen coin in the slot, rather than hand him the money. Unable to sell me a pass, he returned my change, which proved quite a pocket full (28 ten-yen pieces)! Having exited the bus too soon for Gion, I got on another bus and finally purchased a pass. Although the Kahitsukan, billed as a contemporary art museum, was hardly worth its 1000 Yen fee, getting there brought me to Gion, a charming street with curious shops. I then headed to Kyoto’s wonderful National Museum of Modern Art, whose fantastic design exhibition concerning Kenmochi Isamu, Japan’s equal to Fae and Charles Eames, complemented its diverse collection. I had a 48-hour window to use my non-reserved Shinkansen ticket, so I leisurely boarded the speedy train for Tokyo, where I met up with Terry Myers at our hotel. We later enjoyed dinner in nearby Ginza at the Casual Tempura Restaurant.
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto- www.momak.go.jp
Day 6- Friday- Tokyo Glamour
From the day Terry and I started planning our Tokyo trip, he had talked about wanting to experience a live auction at the Tsukiji Fish Market, so when he arose with the sun at 5 a.m., it seemed the perfect moment to visit. After a ten-minute walk from our hotel, the Park Hotel Tokyo atop the Shiodome Media Tower, we arrived in time to watch excited buyers bid on rows of frozen tuna carcasses, which they dragged around with metal rods. We spent about an hour exploring this surprisingly clean, mega-fish market, discovering all sorts of unrecognizable fish and seaweed. Particularly curious were the octopi leaking red-ink. Using Terry’s tiny Tokyo architecture guide, we mapped out a route that toured us from Shibuya, where we bumped into the same Cincinnati couple, to glamorous Omotesando. The tiny guide’s enticing Baby Milo entry made us determined to find the store, though neither of us had ever heard of this brand, whose mascot could easily be confused with Paul Frank’s chimp. By chance, we located one of many Muji stores (another of Terry’s goals), as well as two art centers, the Watari-Um and Spiral.
We then headed along Ometesando, an upscale shopping street lined with Zelkova trees that was recently declared Eco Ave. Omotesando will soon be home to Ando’s biggest building, an apartment building/shopping extravaganza being built to replace the historically significant Dojunkai Aoyama Apartments. Omotesando is also home to Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garcons, Issey Miyake (Fransje Killaars had a great installation here), and the impressive Prada store/sculpture, designed by Swiss architects Herzog and De Meuron.
Rather than enter this crystalline form through the front door, we found an odd door sited across the plaza, which led to stairs descending into the building’s basement. We then ascended the building’s white staircase to experience this totally light-filled building, whose marvelous 360 degree view included traditional homes, electricity lines, telephone polls and surrounding walls sporting green moss. To fully appreciate its skin of set jewels’ remarkable qualities, including its hidden interior spaces, one must experience it rather than regard it from afar. Aware of a nearby Margiela shop, we continued down Omotesando, where we found it on the third floor of a brick strip mall. There, Terry picked up cards for three more Margiela boutiques in Tokyo, so we got to visit one a day! Next door sat Collezzione (1986), Ando’s first Tokyo shopping plaza. The notion of employing high-end architects to create environments that foster brand identity seems like a new strategy, but Ando has been doing just that for twenty years.
En route to our hotel to recuperate, we grabbed lunch from one of the eateries in the Tokyu Department store basement. We later headed to Roppongi Hills to visit the Mori Art Museum in the Mori Tower, where we experienced two lively exhibitions plus a visit to the Tokyo City View Observation Deck on the museum’s 52nd floor. Colors: Viktor&
Rolf &KCI engaged Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren both as fashion designers and curators. They presented their works alongside color-thematic examples (Black, Multicolor, Blue, Red/Yellow and White) from KCI’s (Kyoto Costume Institute) fascinating collection. Ozawa Tsuyoshi: Answer with Yes and No!, curated by Mami Kataoka, was a rather wide-ranging survey of work produced over a seventeen year period. It goes without saying that Ozawa, who collaborates with many others and apparently has several alter egos, is incredibly prolific. His survey featured scores of miniature exhibitions housed in milk-delivery boxes, the fascinating Museum of Soy Sauce Art, humorous travel-photos hovering above a futon mountain, an in-gallery product shop and postcards requesting participants to draw their favorite face. Since the museum is open until midnight, it was already late, so we dined at a cheap, 24-hour buffet, about a block from our hotel.
Mori Art Museum- www.mori.art.museum
Tokyo City View- www.tokyocityview.com
Day 7- Saturday- Tokyo Galleries
Before heading out to see galleries, we checked out two Ginza gems, the translucent Hermes Building, the clear inspiration for Herzog and de Meuron’s transparent Prada building; and the Margiela boutique on the third floor of the Matsuya Department Store. Our next stop was Tomio Koyama’s gallery, where we saw a gallery-artist exhibition, Naoki Koide’s bizarre photographic exhibition of large-scale ceramic figurines placed in various interiors and picked up Whose Favorite?, Tokyo’s citywide gallery listing. Doug Aitken’s work was on view next door at Taka Ishii Gallery. We then headed over to Roppongi, where we saw Nobuaki Takekawa’s playful exhibition at Ota Fine Arts, Christian Holstad’s uber-American installation at Hiromi Yoshii, Peter Pommerer’s anecdotal drawings at Taro Nasu and a random exhibition at the intimate rontgenwerke. On a recommendation from Yoshii’s gallerist, we went around the corner to Sushi Zanmai for a wonderful lunch, our first exposure to the delicious savory, baked custard.
After lunch we returned to the Mori Tower, where I visited the Mori Urban Institute for the Future to see Omotesando 2006 exhibition, which detailed seventy years of neighborhood transformation, including a video interview with Ando regarding his recent efforts to win acceptance for his project. Afterward, Terry and I toured the range of outdoor sculptures placed on the street adjacent the TV Asahi building. The collection mostly consists of dystopic seating arrangements, but there’s also a Louise Bourgeois spider, a giant Isa Genzken thorny rose, a Tatsuo Miyajimi electronic wall mural and Cai Guo-Qiang’s massive six-hundred ton granite fountain.
We soon found ourselves amidst a “Knit Out,” a green-themed, corporate promotion for knitting. We then headed for Gallery SIDE 2 to see Rob Pruitt’s newest work, a series of paintings based on photographs of Paris Hilton. There we had a lovely visit with gallery owner Junko Shimada, who Terry remembered meeting years ago met when she worked in New York for either 303 or Gavin Brown’s enterprise, corp. From there, I attempted Moriko Mori’s opening at the University of Tokyo Science Museum. Unable to locate the museum, even via taxi, I returned to our hotel and ate my first almond pudding. Given Tokyo’s plethora of delicious puddings, I turned into a puddathoner, which required me to sample every type of available custard, creme caramel, flavored gelatin and pudding. I was also fascinated by the invaluable one-cup sake for only $1.
Tomio Koyama Gallery- www.tomiokoyamagallery.com
Taka Ishii Gallery- www.takaishiigallery.com
Ota Fine Arts- www,otafinearts.com
Hiromi Yoshii- www.hiromiyoshii.com
Taro Nasu- www.taronasugallery.com
roentgenwerke- http://roentgenwerke.com
Gallery SIDE 2- www.galleryside2.net
Day 8- Sunday, Tokyo Museums
Before heading to the museums, we toured Asakusa, a part of town known for its old town atmosphere. After passing through a lively shopping arcade with all sorts of food and clothing vendors, we visited an active temple, some shrines, a luna park and walked along a rather long street, turned the corner and passed by a giant golden yam, which we later learned is a Philippe Stark landmark for a bar he designed (so much for old town atmosphere). Our next stop was the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, which was unfortunately closed for installation. Our walk to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) passed by Kiba Park, where we stopped briefly to watch costumed performers demonstrate a Japanese form of log rolling. One of Japan’s most organized museums, each of MOT’s galleries offers bi-lingual cards with a picture, the work’s wall label and a brief resume. Another plus is the way they place Japanese artists side-by-side western artists working within the same genre. The most exciting work was Tatsuo Miyajima’s Keep Change, Connect with Everything, Continue Forever (1998), partly because it took up an entire gallery and partly because it took some time to experience it.
We then headed to the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, whose collection seemed oddly incomplete, considering Japan’s amazing roster of adventuresome postwar artists. MOT owns works by postwar artists On Kawara, Yayoi Kusama, Kazuo Shiraga and Jiro Yoshihara, but we failed to find any works by avant-gardists Shozo Shimamoto, Ushio Shinohara, Atsuko Tanaka, Tsuruko Yamazaki, Genpei Akaseqawa, Natsuyuki Nakanishi, Jiro Takamatsu, Masunobu Yoshimura, Akira Kanayama, Saburo Murakami or Shiryu Morita. Originally designed in 1969 by Yoshiro Taniguchi (the father of MOMA’s current architect), this museum has an inspiring minimalist painting collection, but most works that we saw seemed quite traditional. Unfortunately, we missed the upcoming survey of Yayoi Kusama, an artist who never ceases to amaze. We did see, however, an odd figurative painting by On Kawara and our second Nobuaki Kojima’s figure draped in a U.S. flag.
We then took the subway to Shinjuku. At the Isetan Department Store, we ventured past avid shoppers carrying oversized brand-name bags, experienced two Margiela boutiques and our second Paul Smith shop for the day. After locating the small Gay quarter, we attempted to hike to the Tokyo Opera City Gallery, but gave up en route. We bought some bento boxes in the train station and ate them in our hotel room.
The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art- www.haramuseum.or.jp
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo- www.mot-art-museum.jp
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo- www.momat.go.jp
Tokyo Opera Cty Gallery- www.tokyooperaity-cf.or.jp
Day 9- Monday- Tokyo Shopping
Shopping in Japan is especially fun. Enthusiastic sales clerks are plentiful and they wrap everything in beguiling packages. Our first stop was the world’s first free-standing Martin Margiela store in Ebisu Minami. Despite our first walking round in circles, we arrived before its noon opening, so we busied ourselves shopping at Outlet across the street. At Outlet, Terry bought a white toy Aerostar van for his dad and I got plastic soup spoons in five colors and a funky sac. After examining everything at Margiela, we ecstatically discussed his newest collection with the super-informed staff. If the knit shruggy shawl had come in a color other than red or tan, I would have purchashed one. We then went to Kiddyland, where I bought several matchbox-like Japanese cars. We then walked through Tashekita-dori (near Meiji-Jingumae station), a vibrant street for affordable clothes and glasses. Terry and I then split. I followed Omotesando back to the site of our first Margiela experience, where I bought a bottle of B, one of three Margiela room scents made from pachouli oil. I then meandered through the Aoyama Cemetary toward Akasaka’s famed Sogetsu School, only to discover that I had missed the Monday (10-12 p.m.) Ikebana course conducted in English. Maybe next time. The Sogetsu School has a great shop and an oversized rock garden on its ground floor.
That night, we dined with gallerist Junko Shimada and Mori Art Museum curator Mami Kataoka on a spectacularly presented Japanese meal at Shimon, across the street from the Nogizaka subway stop. Our sumptious meal, which began with sake and creamy tofu, featured a gorgeous sushi platter that required us to ground our own horseradish. After sampling Kobe steak, a novel dish of sliced roe and a citrus-infused tofu salad, we drank a delicious mung bean drink.
Day 10- Tuesday- Tokyo Ueno Park
We set out for Akihabara, the center for electronic goods, where we bought tiny toys from vending machines. After checking out several stores filled with DVD T.V.s, manga comics, computers and fascinating refrigerators and dishwashers, we parted ways once again. I set off for Ueno Park to visit buildings associated with the Tokyo National Museum and to explore my last remaining Ando building. The top floor of the Honkan Japanese Gallery was recently renovated to present a chronologically organized temporary exhibition Highlights of Japanese Art. Of special note is Gallery 2, the National Treasure Gallery, which features rotations of one work at a time in an especially tranquil setting. While the installations upstairs are lovely and the material is well-documented, several objects upstairs resemble those displayed downstairs. One of the most fascinating first floor galleries is the exhibition of maps, which enables one to grasp who knew what when about the world’s landmasses. Next door is the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures (1999), a gorgeous light-filled building designed by MOMA’s current architect Yoshio Taniguchi. To create the International Library of Children’s Literature, Ando enclosed the rear of an older building in a glass atrium, which affords each floor a wonderful view of the garden out back. An angularly-placed glass box activates the building’s entrance way. An affordable cafe is located on the ground floor, adjacent the lovely garden in the rear.
I then took a walk through the zoo’s surreal ponds, also in Ueno Park, which are filled with giant water lillies. For grins, I set out to find the Museum of Sculpture, especially since neither Mami nor Junko had ever heard of it. While the collection is uninteresting, the building has potential and its quaint Meguro neighborhood contains several fantastic thrift stores. Terry and I met up at the hotel and headed out to find a restaurant in the shopping mall beneath our building. We celebrated our fantastic trip with more baked custard and delicious sushi.
Tokyo National Museum- www.tnm.jp/
Library of Children’s Literature- www.kodomo.go.jp/
Museum of Sculpture- www.museum-of-sculpture.org
Day 11- Wednesday- Tokyo
Despite the fact that it was pouring with rain, I still wanted to photograph the Tsujiki Temple. I returned more drenched than I ever remember being, but I got the pictures. We left for the airport via coach bus and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to kill.
Day 12- Wednesday- Los Angeles
We arrived a little after 9 a.m., picked up Terry’s car and drove to Cherry de los Rios gallery for a 10 a.m. meeting with artist Ruby Osorio. We then headed to the Hammer/UCLA Museum, so that I could see The Undiscovered Country and Santiago Cucullo’s complex vinyl wall rendering. We then took off for MOCA downtown, which is apparently closed Wednesdays. As schools were touring the exhibition, they let me in to experience Robert Smithson’s not to be missed survey and Ed Ruscha’s detailed drawing survey. We finally bid adieu at a metro-rail station, where I caught the train to LAX, barely arriving in time to catch my flight home. The plane landed in Cincinnati around 10 p.m. and public buses transported me home by 12:15 a.m..
Day 13- Thursday- Cincinnati
Thursdays is the day I host salons at my house. I awoke quite late, around 10:30a.m., ate a giant breakfast at First Watch and set out to organize myself for my ongoing salon on plazas. After the salon, I visited a friend to give her a birthday gift from my trip and show her most of my loot. On the way home, I realized that I had a flat, which was serious, since I needed to drive to Dayton, Ohio soon, to catch a 6:30 a.m. flight to Vancouver. Instead, I took a cab to the Greyhound Station and caught the 1:30 a.m. bus, which left late, and arrived in Dayton around 3:00 a.m. It turned out that the Greyhound station was closed, so I wandered about downtown looking for a hotel that might offer a shuttle service to the airport. The hotel I found wouldn’t let me take their shuttle, so I left in a taxicab. I caught some zzzs during the ten-hour sojourn to Vancouver.
Day 14- Friday, Vancouver
I arrived around 1:30 p.m. in Vancouver, took the bus to downtown, and met up with Los Angeles artist Kahty Chenoweth at the Access Artist Run Centre, where she was preparing for a solo exhibition. While I felt strong enough to attempt experiencing her installation, I was hardly operating on full throttle, possible because I’d been in four time zones in as many days. I drank a latte and recuperated. We took a taxi to Allyson Clay and Greg Bellerby’s home, where we got ready for Kahty’s opening and ate a delicious dinner. As luck would have it, I managed to stay standing long enough to enjoy The Feminists, a band who played much later at the Lamplighter bar.
Kahty’s opening proved interesting. Her piece, a stretchy, open-ended tent attached to four walls, invited participants to enter it from under and then explore its possibilities. Remarkably, the work was so well constructed that it neither teared nor snagged. People happily crawled under its blue cave-like door. They either popped up in designated forms, such as a brown body sock, a sunnyside-up-egg, a blue/red dome and several other hot spots, or reclined on one of the many pillows and mattresses floating below. The room-size work, which accomodated about six people, anticipated the energy and chaos of a group-adorned burkha and a sand dune shifting in time and space. Kahty and I enjoyed catching up with John Welchman and touring simultaneous openings at Artspeak and Interurban.
Day 15- Saturday, Vancouver
After a special breakfast of cinnamon buns, we visited the gallery at the Emily Carr Institute to see the traveling survey of the influential Canadian collaborative General Idea. This show explored their wide ranging ideas and break through dispositions. We then went to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, where we saw both the museum’s impressive collection and a pop-infused exhibition by First Nation-artist Robert Davidson. We headed to the nearby Belkin Gallery to see Daniel Richter’s flabbergasting new paintings. Next was the handoff, where Gregory passed us to Allyson over crepes at my favorite Vancouver joint, Crepe Cafe. On the way to her car, we stopped by Catriona Jeffries. We then drove into town to the Helen Pitt Gallery for one of Vancouver’s first painting exhibitions at an “alternative” space, OR for a group exhibition centered on language and the Contemporary Art Gallery for a two-person exhibition (video and painting). Gregory and Allyson prepared a delicious salmon for a dinner party, where we met plenty of interesting Vancouver artists. It seemed as though everyone there had visited Japan at one time or other, so Japan proved topical.
Day 16- Sunday, Vancouver
Allyson and I activated the exhibition, while Kahty photographed it for posterity. Allyson drove us to the airport, where Kahty and I shared a delicious Sino-Japanese lunch. Fortunately, Bettina fetched me at the Dayton airport upon my return. Otherwise, I would have had to sleep in the airport until 8:00 a.m. waiting for the Greyhound home.
