Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
Marcel Proust
In walking through Kobe and dropping in to see the odd gallery or two, it was kind of depressing to witness the detritus of capitalisms failures as evidenced by the many shops that are now closed. One wondered if this punishing recession is ever going to end but in spite of the societal economic woes, it was a great surprise to walk into Gallery Kitanozaka and see this energetic, idiosyncratic art show which what an absolute pleasure to experience!
The show was put on by Ebisu Misato, Uozumi Junpei, Tokizawa Iku, Kunwata Tomoakio, Nishimura Nao, Sato Mie, Nishiumi Moe, Hashimoto Sayo, Maeda Natsuki, Nishiguchi, Serizawa Mitsue, Tamada Kanako, Katanimieko and Ohtski. These afore mentioned students should be well pleased with their exhibiting efforts , plus those lecturers who have bought to them to this level of professionalism, for the ambience of show encouraged the audience to visually enquire forensically, this is good position to be in now. The hard part for young artist is to maintian this quality throughout their lives this is no easy task but a path they must try and travel.
It’s very hard to single out this work or that one in a student show or which is the most interesting for overall it is a visually pleasurable experience, laced youthful energy that resonated from the artworks. How refreshing to see young artists with such competence artworks on display, it appears give the audience great hope that the next generation is alive and well, taking up the mantle of research praxis within their art, delivered to them by the apriori histories of Japanese artists through the millenniums time and space.
As one moved through this show intermittently speaking in broken Japanese/English, it soon became one of those occasions that was going to be memorable and therefore bringing back those long ago memories (in my case) of student shows, and they are precious remembrances too, for they were places of departure into the unknown. And from one’s own experience they’re littered with highs and lows but for some reason as an artist one traverses fine arts high mountains and the lows in hidden grounds that dot the landscape across this vast terrains called art, I wish these young students all the best for the future.
