On March 10 I was invited to a preview of an amazing exhibition at the Japan society of Utagawa Kuniyoshi's prints by my new friend Mieko Anekawa (nice mouthful of Japanese names innit!), whom I had met recently in Toronto at the opening of her group show at Energy Gallery, run by my friend David Cheung. It was very kind of her to invite me, almost a stranger, to have champagne and sushi with her at this formal event.
Miraculously my roommate Kate found one pair of sparkly flats in her closet full of shoes that were too small for her, to fit me the night before the event, a little Cinderella-ish one might say. I had been warned that I wasn’t allowed to wear my converse sneakers in, not even paired with a skirt! Originally I thought I might just try to sneak by with my runners and I am very glad I didn’t. When I arrived I saw it was indeed a fanciful affair and I probably would have been sent home. It is very unusual of me to be in New York City and to have not bought any shoes by this time… actually no shopping in general (yet), my will power has been really holding up!
Anyway. I'd been a fan of Kuniyoshi for a long time and it's just stunning to see all these prints together in the flesh, in all it’s tactile, papery flesh glory. He has been one of my long-standing art husbands/historical passions, in that he is one of those artists who can do the time warp. Those prints could have been made yesterday if only contemporary artists still had that kind of patience and care for skillful craft. Of the popular edo print artists, he’s much weirder and funnier than say Hokusai or Hiroshige. I only made it through half the show since I was so mesmerized by the tiny formal details, hypnotized for hours.... the linework of the hair, the woodblock tiny calligraphy, all those subtle masculine and feminine shapes, compositions to die for! The humour and his mixture of beauty and grotesqueness is what makes him feel so fresh for me. A parallel to James Ensor, maybe even Frans Hals, also ‘historical passions’ of mine, also totally fresh, yo.
