Monthly Archive

Was at Tequp last night and doing a bit of surfing with my nerdy buddies (hence the previous ‘Hard Gay’ post) and thought I’d check to see if one of “the best jobs I have ever, ever had the pleasure of being invited to do” was online yet and yes, yes, yes, it was! Check it out here.
I was invited to do an image for the Fantasia Festival in late March early April and to be honest I couldn’t really say it was work, it was my absolute pleasure, my research involved looking back on past festival posters and movies and drawing, drawing, drawing. If only all my jobs could be this wonderfully fulfilling!

“Fantasia Festival (Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, Fant-Asia) is North America’s premiere (and largest) genre film festival.[citation needed] It usually takes place in the month of July, in the city of Montreal. It is a place where distributors come to pick up genre films from around the world for North American release, and where fans come from all over North America to see films that normally would not even be screened on the Art House or repertory circuit for fear of low turnout” Wikipedia

I am actually extremely tempted to head on over there….. should !? (Takes magic eight ball key ring from pocket and shakes…..)…..

Then later on last night I decided to head over to South Melbourne to check out ‘Dr. Sketchy’s Anti Art School’. Strangely enough I had heard about this while in Tokyo after randomly meeting an old high school friend of mine … but don’t get me started on coincidences again…. suffice to say I was not disappointed.
Dr. Sketchy began in New York and probably the best way to describe it is like a life drawing class with personality. The models at Melbourne’s classes are generally from burlesque troupes, and they are not naked, they wear some FABULOUS costumes! the model we had, had some pretty awesome tattoos, including some cute as a button bows around her ankles.

It’s all very decadent and so much fun! I forgot how lovely it was to draw from real life and under the pressure of time. The model decided for the second half of the session that she would choose her next tattoo from our sketches and/or there would also be a First Prize (her garter), Second Prize (’Cry Baby’ DVD starring Johnny Depp) and Third Prize (Plastic Medal), which she would choose at the end of the session.
Much pressure filled scritching of pencils later and the model stood up, stretched and began floating around us looking at our work (she was wearing platforms, she seriously floated). Although I seriously coveted the Johnny Depp DVD I was ecstatic when she chose my work for her next tattoo. Sweet!

Ahhh! Me be happy.

Hard Gay Cooking with Kids

I first saw Hard Gay late 2005 and wet my pants laughing. So politically incorrect and so incredibly wrong in so many ways ….but I so don’t care! I miss Japan!

1 : Not so recent discovery…

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don’t love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

I actually did the ‘Sesame Street Personality” some time ago. I was a tad surprised to find out I was Bert, but then again not. Poppa is ‘Big Bird’ … not a surprise.

2 : Recent discovery.

::The Awesome artwork of Mikish::

Mikish is a most brilliant self taught artist I discovered while wandering the booths at the last Design Festa. I had the chance to meet up with her once more before I left Japan last weekend. She is around the same age and her work is at times the opposite of mine in that some of her pieces are an Eastern view of the West. She uses a Wacom tablet and Adobe Photoshop to create her prints. Her booth was very well organized (she’d done it before) and she had some real cool postcards and coin purses for sale. I hope to be doing some collaborating with little Miss. Mikish in the near future as I truly feel our work gels well together. BTW she is also a mad collector of Blythe dolls.

3 : Not so recent discovery.

This movie ‘Aachi and Ssipak’ blew me away when I first saw the trailer…. it was akin to the feeling I had when I saw Akira for the first time. I actually discovered it while working on an illustration for a film festival (yet to be released)…. don’t you hate those jobs where you are forced to watch cool animation and alternative films as research? he he he. The trailer itself is tiny and real slow to load so I can only imagine the intense experience it will be to see it on the big screen. That’s if it makes it to the antipodes?
Do yourself a favour and mark this one down as a must see….

4. Recent discovery.

Oppai Baka, direct translation “Boob Idiot” but sounds better if you say ‘Crazy for Boobs’. On recent jaunts around one of my favourite burbs of Tokes, Akihabara, I noticed some cardboard cutouts of women with very large breasts, the sign on them was inviting men to fondle their breasts (which were made of some sort of latex and covered by fabric) apparently they were advertising this game. (warning not safe for viewing at work).

Landed back in Melbourne yesterday morning. Been unpacking and napping.

Woke up this morning feeling the usual… “Did all that really happen?” and the altered sense of reality that accompanies most international travel. The weather is so, so chilly and just came to the realization that my last real winter was actually early in 2006 … absence has not made the heart grow fonder for the season however.

I decided a while back to post the last two weeks in review due to the lack of internet access while in Japan. I got tired of lugging my old G4 around town and plugging in at random, smoky internet cafes and as the clock ticked down to my departure all I wanted to do was unplug and experience.

Saturday 9th : Began painting the mural for the wall in the men’s toilet in Joint Bar in earnest…this coincided with the monthly Jam Session there. Kenji, a most excellent drummer, decided I should join in and made me honourable tweaker of the echo dial, DJ Andrea was born. Session ended with much praise from the audience and was asked for encore.
During my ‘live painting’ session I had several questions regarding why all my characters looked so lonely … I told those concerned it was more of a pensive or thoughtful expression I was going for. Should I swap professions and DJ instead?

Sunday 10th : Was planning on heading into Tokyo for my friend Darin’s Birthday party but a combination of no sleep and rain, rain, rain made me decide to head back to Joint during the day and put some more hours into the mural. Watching Japanese TV and eating a combinni (convenience store) lunch in the empty bar. Sunday afternoon became Sunday night and I moved outside for ‘live painting’ once more. A bunch of oyagi (old men) salary men came in around 9 pm, not your average customer at Joint Bar, I managed to capture their attention and sell them some badges. Much interest was made of my sketchbook and again some questions regarding why I like Japan so much… if only I could answer them. Spent around 10 hours painting altogether.

Monday 11th : More painting… or at least that’s what I think I did.

Tuesday 12th : Headed in to Tokyo to an exhibition at the Teien Art Museum in Meguro and sell one of my prints. Travelling on the familiar Sobu-sen into Tokyo I decide to put my folio holding a print for a friend/customer on the shelf above me…. don’t normally do this….. it wasn’t until a line change and two stops closer to Meguro that I realized I no longer had it. Sinking feeling… the guy at the station was not much help but handed me a card and pointed at a number I was supposed to call. I called and in my basic Japanese I explained what had happened, describe what it was, which car I was in and where its location…no small feat actually. Then my phone hung up… goddam prepaid phones in Japan! Frustration level : extreme. Due to the realization that I would most probably spend the rest of the day on this issue.
It was another hour searching for a convenience store and finding someone to help me work out how to add the new amount to my phone until I could call the ‘lost and found’ again. I was told he would call back but that no doubt it would not be until the trains final destination that he would know…. and he was right. The train reached Zushi and a station hand retrieved my folio.
If I was to retrieve the parcel today however I too would have to make the long and boring trip to Zushi (a small seaside town just past Kamakura) over an hour away. Two hours and 20 minutes later I was back in Shinjuku on the Yamanote sen and searching for yet another internet cafe as said (pain in ass) phone also does not have internet access or email functions meaning anybody who has tried to contact me regarding dates and times I can only check in these dark and smoky dens where I contemplate what the bodies who have sat in the chair before me have actually done in here, what that tissue box is for and why you need a ‘ladies only’ section.
Lucky I checked my 7 o’clock is now an 8 0′clock and I have decided to meet up with little bro as well.
Have an excellent time with the lovely Sarah who is even more gorgeous in real life as she is online and get a chance to catch up finally with Scott and Tomoko.
They give me way too many presents once again and I apologize profusely for not getting a chance to meet up with them in Kyoto. Head home on the last train and spend most of the ride squashed in the teeny connector between carriages rocking around and moshing against the huge rubber concertina like stuff with another guy who looks decidedly embarrassed by having to share the space with me and all my luggage. Have an immense urge to shout out “What is it all for!” just to see what peeps would do. Resist the urge but now regret that.

Wednesday 13th : After, once again, very little sleep get up way too early to head to the beach with the usual suspects, Jun, Kumi, Onnoman, Yuriwa, Teshi and TKR. The weather was just too lovely to resist! Later that night we headed off again to an Okinawan Restaurant, ate my new favourite food (mozuku) got happily and delightfully drunk on Awamori and then headed to a game centre for purikura and UFO catching fun. Realized I was really off my nut when someone asked me the time and I spilled my drink on my when I looked at my watch. Called Poppa around 2am very drunk.. he he he. Three hours of Karaoke… 5 am drive home in broad daylight. WTF is with the early sunrise here in Japan.

Thursday 14th : Decide to make another go of trying to head into Tokyo. After some very obsessive checking and re-checking of luggage I abandon the train and call Yonghow to find out which exit he wants to meet me at.
Finally meet up with Yonghow, a Singaporean (who I thought was Korean!) living and working in Tokes as an animator, he meets me at Ogikubo Station. He is working on ‘The Freedom Project‘ a film made for by the same animator as ‘Akira’, Katsuhiro Otomo.. he’s living my dream but made it sound like a nightmare with 18 hour days and being on call anytime. He is an incredibly sane and lovely guy even more so considering his work schedule and insane pressure of his job. Please take the time to read his blog its a great insight into what it’s like to work in animation in Japan.
Meet up with my friend Ange at Tokyo station where we have a long and strange conversation on our mobile phones about where we both are only to find we are on opposite ends of the same platform. Then its a long D and M session on the train to Kaihim Makuhari, I remember how cool it is to talk like this when you know most probably no-one around will be eaves dropping due to the fact they can’t understand a word we are saying. Ange has decided to leave the big smoke that is Tokyo as it is making her feel old, she’ll be gone in 6 weeks. We meet up with Yoshiko and Mayuko at an excellent all you can eat organic restaurant… I manage 3 plates and dessert as well. Nice.

Friday 15th : Finally get to see the exhibition at the Teien Art Gallery in Meguro. I will blog about this in a later post as it deserves more … granted it was a lovely experience and I wandered the space with a smile plastered all over my face. Then visit one Akihabara and rub shoulders with fellow otaku then its off to one of the coolest suburbs in Tokyo, Shimokitazawa, this place truly rocks but should not be entered unless you have money to burn. I didn’t. Then Akasaka to meet up with little bro again and surprise his ‘cute as a button’ girlfriend Tomoko. She’s working in a bar called ‘Drunk Bears’ which for some reason I keep referring to as ‘Drop Bears’ much to the amusement of little bro. I invite Nico, an old friend of mine and we eat and drink and talk about marriage and why not to do it. I spy a palm reader at the station and decide to hand over 3000 yen. I have always wanted to see one of these people ever since seeing the animation ‘Akira’… I am not one for believing in fate that much but some seriously creepy ‘coincidences’ have happened of late and I was armed with two fluent Japanese speaking guys who I trust. She gave me answers to my questions but all of them I pretty much had figured were things I should do anyhow…. it was less about what will happen in the future and more like my mother telling me what to do. She looked a little lost for words at times but I just kept asking questions and making sure I got my 3000 yens worth. I have taken more notice of my ‘omikuji‘ I since bought from the shrine, cause it was lucky.

Saturday 16th : Head off to Nishi-Funabashi it meet Mikish an artist I met at Design Festa. Turns out we are around the same age, her work is an eastern view of the west and mine a western view of the east. She it taking time off work and seems to be having a very Murakami Haruki time about it… nice. I will blog more about her soon as we have made some big plans together. Head to Yuzawaya for some extra bits and pieces while Scott enquires about framing his two prints I just handed over to him. This takes an abnormally long time … we seperate at Tsudanama station and I hope that it is not too long before I see him again. Head back to Chiba and buy 30,000 yen of children’s clothes for someone else’s children. Drag myself and packages back to Joint Bar where I put in a last session on the mural… can’t say I am real happy with it but have seriously learnt so much I from the experience I am glad I did it. Jun will write a little note saying it is unfinished and that it is done by an Australian artist, Jun is such a cutie but him and his family deserve a post all to themselves.

Sunday 17th : It’s a beautiful day, warm and humid, how the hell could one month have slipped by so fast? I ride Jun’s bike into the city. Have I done much, my bank account tells me I have but I ache for more time here. I head to old haunts, the coffee shop and then Chiba Shrine. The Shrine is crowded with new babies and parents, there appears to be a ceremony going on and there are lots of photos being taken of nicely dressed families. I throw money, ring bells, pray and write on charms and hang them with the hundreds of other wishes. I watch as two tiny girls light incense and try to grasp the smoke in their hands and direct it to their faces and bodies. The incense is thought to have healing powers. When they leave I do the same.
I head off to worship another God, consumerism, drop a bunch of cash at the 100 yen, Yodabashi (Nano for Poppa) and Village Vanguard, quite possibly the best store in the world. Take some final purikura and then it’s a sweaty ride home with my purchases and a rushed pack before I bundle myself into Jun’s car and head for the airport.
Jun hangs out with me and my immense amount of baggage, then Kumi arrives and later Onnoman and Mune. We drink some last beers together and recall all the new in jokes we made this time around.
This time I don’t cry all the way home on the plane but I feel something real weird, when the part of me in transit returns I might be able to describe it but right now weird is all I can say.

I have uploaded lots of new pics on Flickr so go ahead and check ‘em out.

Note : This is kinda one of those “You had to be there” posts.

Yay! Yesterday was my Birthday. There were many times when I was little when I often wondered what I would be doing and who I would have become when I was THIS old… if I could go back and tell me little self now I really don’t think I would have believed it. Or then again maybe my little self would, maybe it’s just my big self that doubts it.
In the morning I took some Birthday purikura with Arare and wandered towards the station to head into Tokyo.
I spent the afternoon wandering Daikanyama again and visited Gallery Le le, of course I stopped by my favourite coffee van to chat with Watanabe and get the best coffee in Tokyo. Later I headed off to an exhibition opening with my new found acquaintance, Shizu-san, she works for the Awagami paper factory here in Japan and is in charge of finding new artists who use their products. My brilliant printer Brian led me to her and she is truly lovely. We went to a small suburb of Tokyo close to Ogikubo Station, to a gallery called Youkobo and spent the early part of the evening chatting to the artists who have just completed residencies there and others that will be showing there very soon.

The conversation ranged from Tibetan Sand Mandala’s to the strange world that is the Tokyo art scene. I had to leave early as I had to meet Kumi at Shimbashi to take me back to Chiba for a Birthday party at Joint… I made a mad dash for the Yamanote sen and made it just in time, Chibiko came along too.

We got to Joint Bar around 10.30 pm and I was handed far too many wonderful presents by far too many wonderful friends and given far too many potent drinks. DJ Kumi, DJ Yasu and DJ Jumbo are the reason my body aches today… powered by the alcohol and good company meant I truly believed I could get away with dancing for 6 straight hours.
Kenji once again entertained us with his use of props and general child like enthusiasm towards all of us off our nuts and ready to play along.
The party ended with 5 am Ramen on Kumi’s request. For some insane reason the sun here rises around 4 am, this made me feel and probably look vampirish as we all poured out of the ramen shop at 5.30 and started to make our way home.
Jun and Kenji were still closing up Joint Bar when they shouted out to us that one of the cats (homeless kitties adopted by Jun) had just had a kitten. We all rushed to see it but were fended off by Kenji and rightly so… I wouldn’t want seven drunk strangers staring at me when I was only a minute old.
I did sneak a look when I picked up my bike this morning though. Four little kittens!!!

Another year older, an exhibition opening, new friends made, candles to blow out, ramen to eat, four kittens are born, someone wants to be added to my myspace, the guy in the booth next to me is snoring, I’ve added new photos to flickr and another sand mandala has been constructed and destroyed.
Little me is happy with big me.

The last four days have been manic, I now sit in a smokey internet cafe in my own cubicle. I am surrounded by other people whom I never see but can now and then hear as they shift in their seats or grab another drink as they take a break from an online game. The guy who booked in before me just ordered 12 hour worth! The walls beyond look as though they are constructed solely of manga, there are that many books. The guy at the desk is appropriately geeky and kinda looks like a Japanese version of the comic book store dude off The Simpsons. Surrounded by otaku is just the kind of subversive creepy I love and totally work the 180 yen per 15 mins.

That said, I will keep the description of my last few days here as simply as possible, just some random sentences that maybe only I will understand, as I must head off into the real (?) world and do some painting at my friends bar.

* How is it possible that I could go to a meeting at a gallery in an area I usually never frequent, buy a ticket to head back to Kichijoji but change my mind at the last minute to have a coffee in one of the stations cafes and be sitting outside contemplating life when I hear some Australian accents and when I look up its my old friend from highschool, Tim.
In a sitting of around 24 million peeps what are the odds!

*Taking the Yamanote Sen to Shibuya I photograph an advertisement on a train I like. Change lines and head towards one of my favourite haunts Daikanyama. Later I am checking my photos from that day and notice the young guy who happened to be in the frame of said photo is actually standing right next to me…..?

*Just outside of the station at Daikanyama I am delighted to find my usual coffee van, the man inside is busily whipping up what is always the best coffee in Tokyo. He remembers me and makes my usual, we get to talking and he wants to know more about what I do. He finds my Japanese so amusing that he wants to meet up some time next week to hear more of it. I imagine I said something like this:
Watanabe: What are you doing here?
Me: Shopping.
Watanabe: Where?
Me: Don’t know name… but… shop… doll …. big head … big eye. Does in not sound interesting?(totally strange intonation used here).
Watanabe : He, he. Dolls with big heads, can’t say I know it.
Me: Blythe.. do you know?
Watanabe: No, but your funny!

* Walking home from a long day at the beach with my friend Jun, we notice the moon is low and yellow. Jun says that there will be an earthquake and that “only I know”…. it’s a gift apparently. Sitting in his room later that night we see there has been an earthquake south of Tokyo. Spooky.

*Headed off to Kujikuri, a beach on the Pacific side of the bay in Chiba Prefecture. The sun was warm but the wind so fierce it blew the black sand right through us. It took two hours soaking in a hot Japanese bath to feel human again.

At times here I feel like I am in a movie, or being drawn by some invisible thread to certain things. Maybe a little like dezavu, maybe a little too much travelling alone but altogether like a Haruki Murakami novel.
Everything means something and nothing at once.

I just spent a lovely slow, Saturday in Kichijoji. Meandering through shops, buying way too much stuff and then slowly making my way to meet my friend Martine for coffee. We headed off into Inokashira Park where we whiled away the beautiful late Spring day in slow contemplation and photo taking. There were people walking dogs, and even a women with a giant bunny.

The night before in a bar called Mikorin (where Martine had a photography exhibition in Feb this year) we had met a friend of hers who organized a meeting with an artist in the area. Her name is Kimico Yoshida and I feel so lucky to have met her.
Her family owns several cafes in the area and they all have that kind of meshed European/Japanese charm that only can be found here in Japan. Her work mirrors mine in that it is an Eastern view of the Western world. Her girls peer out from her canvases with big expressive eyes and they ache of the melancholy that I recently have been experiencing here. Her gorgeous studio sits above one of the cafes on the edge of the park, amongst a forest of truly enormous trees (think Hayao Miyazaki…. ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’). The studio is full of old dolls, teddies, rabbits and antiques and also has a tiny little balcony with flowers just like my grandma used to grow.

We sat and spoke in broken Japanese and English together as she showed as her work. We talked about Paris, about her life and about an upcoming exhibition. I managed to get a photo with her, although she was reluctant at first saying her hair was a mess and she had plaster all over her as she was mid-doll construction at the time.

When I left to descend the precariously steep steps back down to the cafe below she thanked me and held my hand in hers and ‘warm and fuzzy’ doesn’t do justice to the aura she gave out. She is just lovely and I hope that I will still be working away like she is when I am her age.

We then fell back into the busy park, watching the Swan boats and lovers and children play while the sun set.

So, so good…. thanks Aunty Marty!
Lots more photos on Flickr… and more posts about Kichijoji can be found on Martine’s blog.