Colorless Spectrum -Report

Thank y'all for visiting our show and sharing awesome moments with us on the night of Colorless Spectrum reception party! We had about 300 visitors at the venue Space Gallery that night, and the place was packed. Since the reception party was held on Friday night, it was slow start (because people have to work untill 6pm-ish) but people started to come in around 8:30~9:00pm. We had a plenty of time to complete preparation.


We had several new attempts this time: making and distributing "Omikuji", which is a fortune-telling sacred paper that you can usually get at Japanese temples and shrines, telling how much luck you will get for the coming year. Designed by Aoi & Junko with the pretty illustration of "Shichifuku-jin" (seven gods of fortune) by Natsuki, S.I.R. Omikuji and distributed them to all the visitors at the door. People seemed enjoying reading it, and most of them kept it in the pocket for a souvenir, and some of them tied it to the tree branch on the second floor. The tree was one of my art works that I exhibited at the show, aiming to add the "white-snow field" feeling to the gallery space, and to serve the traditional Japanese custom that is to tie Omikuji to the tree branches.




The second attempt was to produce S.I.R. T-shirts for the first time! These SIR original T-shirts are all hand-printed with silkscreen. The printed images are the logos designed by SIR's star graphic designer, Daisuke Maki, arranged by Luke & Akko, and printed by Luke, Akko, Aoi and Hiroko. You know what, it took until 4am to print the front side on all sizes (XS, S, M,L)! I love it so much and I am wearing one right now. If you want to purchase one, this T-shirts are available in all sizes; just e-mail info@sir-sf.com!



The last attempt, which was the most difficult one, was to make the live painting more amusing for the audiences and at the same time present the connection with the theme "colorless spectrum". Noa-, Natsuki and I had many meetings before the show and discussed about how we can improve the experience of live painting. We decided to cut the canvas into several squares and rectangles, and paint them in various vivid colors. These canvases are fixed on the floor before the performance, indicating that something will be happening at the stage by using those canvases. We began painting around 9:30pm. After I wrote the huge "colorless spectrum" with a Japanese calligraphy brush, we disseminated the canvas and Noa- stapled them randomly on the wall, painted an interesting patterns with a thick and flat brush. We disseminated that again, Natsuki drew some human figures on each canvas, and we took everything off from the wall. After that it was like a puzzle game; all the pieces were fit into the final shape of rectangle, and I wrote a message for the audience through this painting: "BE COLORLESS. BE COLORFUL. BE UNITED. SEE, THERE'S NO BOUNDARY."













As for my personal exhibition, I made five Japanese Calligraphy x Mixed media works. Although i required many trips to home depot in various locations all over the bay area, it was fun to use plastics to design original frames. A lot of people told me that it was something new compared to my previous works - and I loved that feedback! I wanted to present different side of my skills and ideas, and I just simply wanted to challenge myself by using white elements in my calligraphy art. The image I had in my mind was a vast field that is covered by silver snow, reflecting lights and emitting the beautiful spectrum of colors.

1
縷 (Tsuzure) / Threads
Spray paint stencil, vellum

2
UKABI
浮　／　emerge
Calligraphy ink, stencil, plastic

3
HIKARI
光　／ reflect
Calligraphy ink, stencil, plastic

4
KASUMI
霞　／ vanish
Calligraphy ink, stencil, plastic

5

Woolgathering Spectra
Wild tree found in a mountain, spray paint

The tree before being painted

Big thanks for Luke, for hiking into the mountain to find the wood with me. It was fun, and what we found was a blessing from the god of nature...

Also, I collaborated with Akko to make three pieces of Japanese Calligraphy x Photography. We placed some lights
behind art pieces so that both calligraphy and photography become one when it reaches your eyes.

1
遥か/ faraway
Japanese Calligraphy & Photography
by Aoi & Akko

「遥か」

むかしきみと歩いた海岸線
足が沈むたびに
思い出すキミノワライゴエ


2
茜と群青の交わる場所 /
Japanese Calligraphy & Photography
by Aoi & Akko

3
３滴分のあおぞら
Japanese Calligraphy & Photography
by Aoi & Akko

How did everybody interpret "colorless spectrum"? I know that it was not easy theme to deal with when it comes to expressing it in their own art works. Like we explained in the description of the show, we tried to see the possibilities of the color white. I loved this wall, with my works on the left, Noa-'s at the center and Akko's on the right.

(From the left: Aoi, Noa-, Akko)

There were a lot of colorful art works, especially by Ai and Junko. I loved them too - because what we aimed to project through this theme was that "nothing equals everything", "colorless equals colorful", and "behind everything lies the primordial nothingness"... ultimately, what we perceive is strongly depending on one's measurement or judgement. We tend to forget that our minds are narrowing the parameter of reality.


You can view more pictures on my Flickr! (←click here)
We will post pictures and videos on the SIR Flickr, SIR website and SIR blog soon, so stay tuned!

Special Thanks to:
Hiroko Tsuchimoto & Katsura Kiguchi for design & making such a beautiful fabric & dress
Akko for supporting my mental condition, taking great photos, and collaborating with me
Luke for transporting my huge tree, hiking in the woods with me, and making SIR T-shirts
Noa- for organizing SIR shows together as my partner and awesome live painting
Natsuki for your fine illustration at our live painting and for omikuji
Junko for designing the playful & eye-catching flyer and omikuji
Shuhei for your wonderful sense of music and inspiration that brought me words to write poems with
Zaion for bringing "zaion sound" that takes us to a internal journey
Yusai for mellow and relaxing mood & groove in the gallery
8 doors for shining smile of Aomori and shooting SIR 情熱大陸
Yoshi for surprising me with a new idea and viewpoint in your creation
Masa for your energy and ambition towards design, photography and network
Ai for sharing Dosanko spirit and adding colors to the exhibition
Tae for bringing BBQ set (although we did not use them...)
Keiko for your unconditional support and photos that revive the moments
IxDxE for your sense of humor
Andrew for aiding me with your brain-encyclopedia and making words rhyme

Photos by: Akko, Hiroe, Keiko and me