oh i am sad. ten days in japan is too short. i have visited Japan about 4 times in the last 3 years. so i feel a certain affinity with it. I know Narita airport so well now i can find the same restaurant where i like to eat. yes i ate there 4 times.

here just a quick recap from the opening night to the day after:

of course opening is the most fun of the entire art exhibition.  well, most exciting should i say.  people come, meeting new friends, people laughing and drinking and eating banana.  yes, Juka’s mom donated 150 bananas to the opening.  AND Juka’s grandma bought us 250 beers.  banana and beer.

do i like talking to people? no, not really.  i am not very good with strangers particularly.  but i think at art openings there are like-minded people who (some) might appreciate my work.  also i get to see some friends that i might not have seen otherwise.  so all in all, opening is pretty fun. also i did a performance, and artist Pimeriko did a performance as well.

that’s me on the top left hand corner.  i did a speech through the window.  the performance piece is a bit hard to explain so i will leave that for another time. below is Pimeriko’s performance.  she had a back-up dancer as well.

after the opening some of us went to eat pizza, mush potato, and more beer.

after i got home i was knocked out. the next day me and Juka spent some time relaxing in a beach town near by.  i got my girlfriend a present.  i had really good japanese food and frozen yogurt.  yum.  then the next day we took bacon (a dog) around to visit the stray cats.  then went to a huge park.  bacon like to chase pigeons.  oh also we saw two pigeon having sex.  i’ve never seen that before.  at first i didn’t know what was really going on.  i was thinking, in broad day light? really? the pigeon show us and then they stopped and just pretend nothing was happening.

i will update more later with interviewing Juka! stay tuned!

here in this interview we talked about Kel Wing’s inspiration behind his new works at FOXRIVER. The artist talks about his other works as well as his experience in the National Service.

Opening was good! Too tired to write now! Will share more tomorrow.

not going to write anything! no time! rushing off to the warehouse to finishing up things! i will be doing a performance tonight as well! (write it last night!) it will be in japanese haha!

just to show you why i might die soon.  the food i eat and why i love my job. since i have no time for proper meal this is the dinner for the last two days.  both at about 1130pm. sweetness.  its actually quite delicious.  thank you 7/11 of japan! (if i were have to live off 7/11 in the states or singapore, i might be dead already)

okay, not gonna write very much because i am exhausted. just realized i didn’t pee for 12 hours. also i didn’t even sit down for 12 hours. oh also my feet in really f-up. but yes, installation in process. its actually the most exciting and the most exhausting part of the exhibition. it is when each work is carefully placed, and installed into the space. it requires a bit of technical know-how and some knowledge of formally aesthetic sense. how art works are installed and placed have a huge effect of the works are seen by the audience. i will write more about that later.

installation of art work is like a turtle race.  it always take longer than you expect, and things never really quite fall in place.  it is just so different from what you thought it might look and what it actually looks like.  so today even though we have most of the works here in the warehouse, we still wouldn’t know the final outcome until two more pieces arrive tomorrow.

this is the world where every-little-thing count.  perfection is the name of the game.  its really fun doing this like this.  me and Juka have done a lot of it at UCLA, but we not worked together in a while.  its a good throw back fun.  it also is very exciting to see how the space transform.  now the art works are here and in place, the whole place feels very different.  different indeed.

so after a long day in the warehouse Juka’s dinner is brought over by Krister.  it is a soup.  bean and potato soup.  Juka chuck the whole thing in two minutes.  that’s what happen when you put a hungry curator and 11pm together.

now i am gonna explain why my feet is gonna fall off my body.  besides standing for the whole day, going up and down the ladder, i got crazy blister on my feet and hands.  since it has been raining unstop, my sneakers are soaked.  therefore i had to buy sandals because i just cannot stand wet socks and wet shoes.  and these cheap plastic sandals is giving me hell.  gross pictures below.

yes it is gross i know.  you are welcome.  i always have some crazy way to hurt myself while making art (not to mention the time when i accidentally stabbed my leg with a cutting knife), but this feet blister thing is very indirect.  installing art -> rain -> wet shoes -> plastic sandals -> blister.  the cause and effect is pretty distant if you ask me.  oh, my hands have blisters too from brushing the floor with a bloom.  what.

i don’t particularly like showing off my injury trophies, but just to make the case in point: preparing for art exhibition is like a marathon.  from planning to the execution, from bring art work from singapore to japan, from finding a space and then brushing the dirt of the floor.  that’s all folks.  now i am gonna play some video game and pass out.

Omg the rain rages on! Irritating! I
Must eat more junk food to stay calm! Wait, what?

this is a pretty short one: me talking about why i would totally get fat if i live in japan / why i cannot stop vacuuming / the importance of placing art works in a space / artist Pimeriko’s works on her site

i really really really really hope tomorrow will stop raining.  my feet is hoping for the same. its getting wrinkly and smelly.  nobody want that! stay tuned!

Heading out to the warehouse now… Will update with more stuff tonight! More vacuuming today oh boy..,
Its raining here and Bacon the dog doesn’t like to walk and get wet…

(click / hold then drag around the photo!)

today i spend the early part of the afternoon taking picture of my scroll drawing. thanks to Juka i finally have a space to roll out the entire scroll, which is about 8 meters long. Juka’s studio is located right above the streets of Yokohama’s Chinatown. lots of tourists there.

then i head to the warehouse space to meet Juka and Krister.  while they continue to work on their pieces for the show, i spent rest of the day vacuum.  there is a lot of dirt.  trust me.  there is a lot of dirt.  trust me.  (no there is no typo: i did type that twice in a roll because there is a lot of dirt) on the way home i couldn’t stop sneezing.  i think my nose is clogged up because of the dust.

the space is more a less ready to go! i would say i have another 3 hours of vacuum, which isn’t really too bad.  but i got a feeling that my back is gonna ache after tomorrow.  should i sleep early tonight? or should i play video game? Krister does have playstation 3.  omg so tempting.

soon i will be doing another video blogging with my friend Juka.  we’ll talk about the role of a “curator”. stay tuned.