The Amami Art Scene

We're back in Amami Oshima as you can tell by the above picture of the landmark above recognized the world over as the Amami cultural and performing arts center. That's where Masami is organizing yet another manga (Japanese comics) show. It's hot here, nearly 90 degrees with 85% humidity. People wear towels around their necks to mop up the sweat. As you can see, the women are using their parasols at the flea market. (They also hold their open parasols in one hand when they ride their bicycles.)

We've been busy installing the manga art show, making frames, framing, and hanging artwork. Masami came up with the idea of mounting the art between two pieces of plexiglass. We ordered special screws to hold them together, and I was supposed to drill the holes. I like power tools, but they don't seem to like me, and usually do whatever they want, regardless of my wishes. My workstations also seem to always be near wormholes to alternative universes, where my rulers go every time I put them down, being replaced by these alternate universe rulers, so my measurements are all slightly off. So no matter how carefully I measure things, they always end up short or long or crooked somehow. Luckily we had help from one of the employees of Masami's friend who owns a window and door business (the same one I briefly worked for). He actually ended up doing the drilling, which was good, because I tried one and it immediately shattered. (It's hard to shatter plexiglass, too, just try it.) Luckily we had extras. The plexiglass was coated with sticky paper, which when peeled it off, charged the glass with static electricity that attracted every mote of dust within a ten foot radius. Since there was no matting, you could see every speck, too. It was a pain to clean them (I ended up using my eyeglass cleaning cloth), and they still weren't perfect. We ended up putting black paper on the walls behind the artworks to mask the imperfections.

The gallery is in the performing arts center, which has huge ceilings. To hang the art, I had to climb this flimsy ladder I think was made out of recycled beer cans, and not that many of them. The steps were about three inches wide and there were two cardboard thin pieces of metal braced against each other that were supposed to keep the ladder from collapsing. I don't think it was made to hold someone of my considerable weight (150lbs). Most things are made pretty cheaply here in Japan (although the prices certainly don't reflect that). You would think a ladder would be something you wouldn't want to scrimp on.

The opening was a big deal. It was a community event complete with a high school marching band playing the anthem of the city and cartoon theme music tailored to the occasion. There were also hip hop dancers, not sure why they were there. There was a ribbon cutting with dignitaries, and those exploding streamers were shot off by some girls behind me. Some cosplayers came dressed as comic book and cartoon characters. Theo dressed up as the Spirit (unmasked), because he wanted to show off his new hat. He didn't know who the spirit was, but he looked for a character with a hat. I have no idea who the others are supposed to be. The opening was during the Sunday Morning Flea Market, so there were a lot of people around. A small crowd witnessed the opening ceremony. Not many people wanted to pay the $5 admission fee to see the show, however.

Since then, it seems like an endless process of adding, rearranging artworks, adding plants, a carpet, cushions for the reading area. Masami wants to make it into a comic cafe, and recruited me as a nightly jazz act, playing soprano sax. I think the idea is to attract people, but it may be having the opposite effect. There were only two people in the gallery last night, and one left as soon as I started playing. The other one came back as a volunteer the second night. I'd like to think it was for the music, not the comic books. Maybe it's both. Anyway, I like it that way, laid back and not too much like a performance. It's kind of a fun place to play. It's a huge glass and tile cavern, so the sound really echoes. It's like playing in a church. The sound is pretty amazing. And loud. I've got my ipod hooked up to a couple of computer speakers for accompaniment. We've been going every night for an hour or two. It's amazing to have that much uncluttered space in Japan, and it's even air-conditioned. And I don't have to listen to Masami's mother complaining or bother the neighbors. Maybe that's the point.