[ivyart]

Why don't Japanese buy much art in Tokyo? Could it be that the works peddled are more provincial and seem to be either followers or mashing empty and predictable symbols together. Did any one think that Teppeuchi is fresh or just a mishmash of Petah Coyne and Roxy Payne with a few others for good measure. Chiba succeeded with some semi-interesting images of totems and backgrounds, but since his first ones there has been negligible growth nor has the totem-like items been used as anything more than a minor stand in for what???? Has he explored totems or iconic symbols? Has he looked at the landscape and questioned what each element, or its construction, or how we see, or look or even how humans expect anything of his very genres? The construction remains predictable- a gentle u-shaped horizon and foreground with tropical plants and a totem smack dab in the very center, or 2 to the sides. Tadahhhh! Or Satoshi Ohno who makes the same one-sided coin of his head, the alpine trees and their matching pointy Mountains with the grafitti marks in gold and the geometric circle hovering. The sculpture of the girl who seems only to work with cliched symbols of wolves sexy chicks, knives, deer, bugs impressed for 10 minutes, but upon reflection and the disappearance of the crowd's buzz and people gushing over it I ask the simple question, so what? What are those symbols adding up to, or is this just a new-fangled tchotchke for those with more money than brains? Sure it is fun, but for how long? Then there was the guy who took photos of flocks of birds and then tried to pin them down to music. Does any one wonder why most think Fluxus is bankrupt? There was the booth peddling shiny things that all looked pretty but then there was little that added up to anything. So many galleries that sell a broad range of wares made separating art from artifice. Adding to the confusion there was very little substance and a whole lot of distraction or denial. To ice the cake
Murakostabi's Art painting performance showed just how little art was there and how so much was only rote. 'Tis a pity, but this is why On Kawara, Nishi Tatzu, Sugimoto, Tadashi Kawamata, Satomi Shirai, et al. live overseas too. There is too much hype of chinatown level pictures and no discussion beyond kawaii or segoiiii, and going beyond that is harshly frowned upon. IF you don't believe this then ask lots of penetrating questions about the works you see this spring here in Tokyo.