REVIEW: Exhibition 'Kaii Higashiyama: Nature, Men and Towns'

"I left home shortly after noon, but now it is 15:58, on the taxi, hoping to arrive there as soon as possible. The museum will close at 17:00. Probably approximately only 50 minutes left. What can I do now?" 

What I can do now is to praise the artist.


My Visit / Outline of the Exhibition

As I said before, I was looking forward to the exhibition a lot and had prepared an advance ticket — a two-times ticket for the two-terms exhibition — and attended twice. For some reasons, I visited the museum in the late afternoon of the final day of each term. It was a close shave. I almost missed them both actually.


The exhibition was held in the feature-exhibition gallery at the third floor(the second floor in English) of the Kyūshū National Museum 九州国立博物館 last summer in the midst of the Heisei-period major repair of Mieidō 御影堂 of Tōshōdai-ji 唐招提寺. They took the opportunity to have his largest painting work that was dedicated to the temple as a special feature exhibit.

It was the most splendid, spiritual, satisfying exhibition that I've ever seen, because of the power of the artist 東山魁夷, in the first place, of course, and also the enthusiastic ambitious elaborate arrangements which are based on a deep appreciation of art. Curated by Masaaki Ozaki 尾崎正明. I loved it, including the comments on paintings, and the pictorial catalogue. The book was excellent, full of properly photographed and printed his artworks. I have considered finishing this post only by saying "Just read the book". However, this is my blog, and that's nothing adventurous. Then, shall we have a close look at the exhibition and his life?


Into the Gallery

"Huge", that was my first impression. Section I: Seeking the Way (The Prewar Period); soon after the entrance into the gallery, the large canvases had a great impact. His early works were not yet sophisticated but quite energetic, and indicated young painter's ambitions. In fact, his painting works were all bigger than I thought. His tendency toward abstraction left cute impressions on the canvases, and small copies on books or the internet don't tell us about the size, details, matière, texture. They reminded me of the Aura of a work of art right after I ended the first season of this blogging adventure. In this Information Age, I am interested in something that cannot be reproduced. Life is Time. Experience cannot be reproduced and is made with Time. Higashiyama's artworks are truly worth experiencing. From his early works to the last, the retrospective exhibition traces the path that the artist had taken in chronological order except the works for Tōshōdai-ji temple.


His Early Years

Kaii Higashiyama was born in Yokohama in 1908 (Meiji 41). Since near the end of Edo — the abolition of "Sakoku" the National Isolation (1854), the change of the political system, modernisation and westernisation, wars — around this time, Japan was in turbulent times, and the successive dynamic changes of this country lasted actually until the 1990s.

A Mirage of Guggenheim

Walk down the fifth avenue from the "Twilight" museum to the south. I saw a couple of museums from the street, then it showed up. The building of the distinguishing feature, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City designed by Frank Lloyd Wright(1867 -1959). I love his way of thinking in design works and the details that he designed. When I was a student I've visited Yodoko Guest House 旧山邑邸 in Ashiya, Japan. I loved it. The museum was designed in a different style from it but some things are common.

Just enter the building soon after taking the picture briefly. At the security gate, security officers check people's baggage. A black security officer checks my backpack, my half-eaten roll sandwich that fell off as soon as he opened the backpack gets him significantly. The officer came back to his duty after the short-time laughing and gave me permission to enter. In the hall at the ground level, some people are doing something like radio broadcasting. That seems to be related to the feature exhibition "On Kawara – Silence". They say that it is the first comprehensive retrospective exhibition of a Japanese conceptual artist On Kawara(1932 - 2014), conceived by the artist himself before his death on 10th July 2014 – my birthday last year. When I designed this journey, I looked into the museums and their locations but not the exhibitions. I unexpectedly encountered a compatriot in this foreign country. It is said that the artist born in Japan settled in the city of New York in 1965 after he experienced the life in Mexico, travels through Europe.

There and Back Again

Despite the lack of preparation, thank you for following me. I came home from Nîmes. I've already had Sushi, Yakitori, Udon, Natto, Miso soup, multigrain Rice.

At last, I saw Hans and his live show! That was so exciting! I didn't have the time to prepare for French conversation, but the knowledge of the country that I had acquired before this adventure was serviceable, and the word—this is one of my favourites—"choisir" served me well twice.

Choice is an illusion, however, we can make choices and that makes our lives. I was gratified with my choices. Hans' show, the Arena, Nîmes, Paris––, so then I got great experiences, fine chances. I saw beautiful cities, beautiful buildings, beautiful sights, beautiful women, a beautiful sun of Andalusia. It was quite an adventure.

Well, I'm very aware that I haven't "shared" so much. I haven't completed the adventure yet. I will come back soon. Yes, for epilogues, again. But first, we need to take a rest, get sustenance, have a cup of tea, and rearm and regroup.

The latter half of the second spring begins in July.

Hey, just don't call me "epilogger". The cat is sensitive.



The wind shines most brightly before the dawn.

REVIEW: Hans Zimmer Live Show in the Arena of Nîmes

His film music compositions to be felt with the whole body. An awesome show, a memorable night.

On 24th June 2017, in the Arena of Nîmes, a Roman amphitheatre. The theatre was filled to capacity. 08:30 pm, it began on schedule. I visited the event all the way from Kyushu, Japan. My seat was in the stage-right area, on the third level (in France, the second level). The live concert by German film music composer Hans Zimmer who has a successful career in Hollywood big movies was held in the historic city that is located in Southern France, near the Mediterranean Sea. It was a hot day.

Live Blog

DATES & PLACES:

18:00-20:00 22nd June 2017, (probably around Vavin crossing, 6th), LE CAFÉ DE LA place, Paris

18:00-19:30 22nd June 2017, (around the station and the arena), Nîmes
18:30-19:45, Bar de la Bourse (or near there), the north side street of the Arena Nîmes

POSTS:

'90s Action Movie and the Rise of Hans Zimmer'

'Bromance in the Movie History and the World Today'

The Return of the Cat

Oh, it's good to be back!

How is it going? Everyone is doing great, I hope. "The spring is gone"? "It's too late"? Well, I've got no particular change of circumstances, no mentally-painful events, but I've been busy! I'm not a full-time adventure blogger, unfortunately. Have you seen 'Iron Man 3'? It was something like "Sometimes you gotta start combat before all your tactical gears arrive", and that's the situation here.

And well, nice to meet you. You saw my tweet? You saw my card? You saw me today? Welcome to my adventure blog!

44E

"Trains" that run underground the big city. Creak, squeak, screech, motor noise, and I hear the sound of dark past, dark future, serious threat.  4:37 pm. The threat is imminent. The clock is ticking. However, the subway appears to be running on schedule. All I can do now is just to wait as the train jolt us, passengers. I cannot fail this mission. I need to be focused. One mistake could jeopardise the mission.

4:43 pm. "Revenge", well, yes, this thing might be. To have substantial experience. Revenge for hollow illusions. Morale is getting high.