James Jack

15th Annual Kiryu Saien Exhibition October 3- November 3rd, 2009

Information Center: Moriyoshi Studio, Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture

〒376-0034　桐生市東2-14-27

TEL/FAX　0277-47-3560
URL　http://www.kiryusaien.com
E-mail　kiryuu_saien@ybb.ne.jp

Exhibition Hours: Saturday and Sunday 11-17:00

I just finished re-installing my work in Niigata after the Echigo-Tsumari Trieniial closed on September 13th. My work is now on display at Shorin-ji Zen temple in Matsudai town indefinitely. The monk and his wife are very excited that my works will last for a few months to a few years in all of the in between spaces around their temple grounds.

The whole experience was very moving as I felt the works really took on a new life as they found new places to reside in the moss, rocks, gravestones and ponds surrounding the temple. The winter will be strong and harsh on them this year but it will be interesting to see what influence nature has on the works as the seasons proceed.

I’m doing an art residency project in Beijing for most of the month of August at the Ku Art Center. It has been refreshing to spread out and make new art works in a studio that’s about twelve times larger than my space in Tokyo. Although the space is raw it has inspired a lot of new ideas for me as I am working on new drawings and photographic works. I have been re-immersing myself in the world of ink and paper (refreshing!) and paying close attention to emptiness. Studio view 1:

I’m working on a new series of grass paintings that will become large scrolls hanging from the ceiling of a former silk factory for the 15th Kiryu Saien Exhibit in Gunma opening the first week of October. The simple shape of a blade of grass is taking on more and more meaning as I spend time “calligraphing” its shape and documenting the blades with a camera. Here is a sample of the works hanging in the studio:

I was most impressed by a studio visit with Jiang Guandong, an artist who is also a Taoist teacher. After a delicious bijou filled evening we exchanged studio visits and transcended our lack of a shared language with a nearly pure visual communication. Experiences such as these have perked my desire to tackle Mandarin when I get back to Tokyo.

I have just posted a brief photo report of highlights from the Echigo-Tsumari Triennial in Niigata. Check it out on Tokyo Art Beat‘s site. While it is impossible to summarize such a diverse and spread out exhibition, these were some of the works that I enjoyed during the opening week.

Now that I think about the show it feels like the spaces in between the artists’ work are actually more significant than many of the works themselves. The installations themselves are intriguing but their site-specificity leads one toward the landscape and people themselves, somehow bringing the little details of the inaka that so often go unnoticed into focus. If you do make it out to see the show this summer my best advice is: get lost.

The most fascinating aspects of the area are in the winding back roads and dead end alleyways.

Photo: James Jack

How does an encounter with the royal family affect one’s life? For me it re-affirms the simple activities that I engage in everyday. Somehow it seems to be part of a larger fate that was set up for me, but this is something I’m not exactly sure how to put into words.

There are times when things fall into place and everything seems calculated by a larger unknown presence, I don’t dare to call it anything other than “unknown,” so I’ll leave it at that. Life is just a manner of finding where I fit in the sprockets of this fate, a challenging situation but nothing other than the essence of truly being alive.

In conjunction with their highnesses’ recent visit to Oahu KGMB did a TV series about the Royal family’s historical ties with Hawaii. The video features interviews with me and other scholars who are contributing to strengthening cross-cultural bonds across the Pacific. Check out the full video from KGMB here (Section two includes shots of my studio at Geidai in Ueno.)

I recently did an interview with Sayaka Akiyama for Tokyo Art Beat. Check it out here

Sayaka Akiyama (left) explains her work to James Jack. Photo: Ryu Furusawa

I just got back from Niigata where I am working on an installation made out of local materials such as ash, stones, mud and sand. It was quite an exhausting week in the countryside as my body has grown a bit lazy from daily life in Tokyo, but it felt meaningful to be literally “digging in the dirt” each day to see what materials I could uncover.

Each day I spent time talking with the neighbors, finding out more about the history and stories of the town of Naka-Senda where the exhibit is located. I found all kinds of surprises in the process- for example I was given fresh vegetables by the elders of the village while inquiring about the elementary school we are exhibiting at. I also held a workshop that brought members of the local community back into the school to form some cones together. Many different people have touched the cones and the handmade aspect of each cone is crucial to the piece.

This installation is part of the Dynamo: Conquering Snow section of the Echigo-Tsumari Triennial open from July 26th to September 13th. The overall aims of the exhibit are to address social and environmental issues by creative means thus bringing international attention to the countryside of Japan.
Here are some photos of the materials that I collected from the area to make the cones along with views of the Mini-Landscape.

This is my current works blog that will provide updates on my art work. Welcome to James Jack.org current works blog.