as with publishing my own book, the exhibition was also independently staged by myself - gallery le deco floor 6 was rented for six days - sadly the desired black painted gallery (i previously used for miss sticky kiss and rubber doll exhibitions) is no longer black - but the newly renovated sparklingly clean white space is relatively large and customizable to some extent with moveable wall blocks - the gallery owner also fondly(?) remembered me from 12 years ago, so that was kinda nice - his similarly amiable son now running the galleries
and happily the exhibition was very successful - numerous paintings sold (around two dozen of the 41 works on show) - and around 600 visitors attended, despite some lousy "golden week" weather - there was never a single moment when the gallery was empty - which eased the burden of being in the gallery all day every day - it was very tiring of course, and i caught a cold, but nevertheless it was fun and we want to do it all again! - (actually, as the gallery empty the following week, we were offered a free week extension! - we couldn't do it tho)
day by day, one by one, the post cards at the gallery door were mysteriously disappearing! - (perhaps just fell off?)
copies of "la nursery noire" (limited to 500 copies) sold out within a few days - ditto all the enamel pins that were for sale - so, seeing all the sad faces, i deeply regret not keeping aside more copies of the book for the exhibition - especially as overseas response (america in particular) has been pretty much non-existant in regard to painting enquiries - zero interest!
for the last day i made some extra consolation badges - but seems everyone sulking on missing out on the enamel pins too much
admission was free - so amusing to be approached by a russian(?) mum and her daughter nervously asking "ticket???"
and photos permitted - if not encouraged! - the power of sns, particularly for japanese, can't be underestimated - tho apparently many japanese read the tick mark as "no"! - and the "thank you" praying hands as "sorry"! - huh? - photos of ME not permitted - i got variously described as a fairy or a white wizard : P
my/our graciousness was somewhat tested however when a chinese(?) girl systematically took dozens of hi-res photos of every painting - i thought the reflective glass frames of some paintings might deter her - it didn't - and, as if divine intervention, the above "photo okay" sign became unstuck from the wall and fell down during her photo blitz - when she was about to start indexing my files of preliminary pencil drawings we stepped in and stopped her - at least she did buy books! (and she was quite a nice girl really - perhaps an art student?)
even more concerning were the fat men - the first very casually attired and, barely glancing at the paintings, he copied the price tags into a note book - on a later day another arrived in a business suit (starkly standing out amid the predominant lolita visitors) - hmmm, taxmen?!
another disconcerting thing - what's the deal with black nail varnish? - among men! - quite a few were sporting this "look" - i was tempted to follow suit just to see if it's like some sorta secret handshakes thing...?
akaneko, my number one fan, suitably attired - shironuri artist minori also came attired in latex (i didn't recognize her!)
nananano and aika(?)
mitake - so cute! - apparently she knew of my work but wasn't an especial fan before - but "fell in love" when seeing the originals - or at least moved enough to buy one - happy things like this made all the hard work worthwhile - if i did the exhibition at a "real" gallery, this probably wouldn't happen, thanks to more intimidating price tags - yay for artist autonomy!
random girl collecting follows...
ayumi and kyokobarbie - two outgoing girls who prey on shy boys like me (haha!)
megu okada and kaori nagamatsu
miyako and strawberry painkiller (obviously not her real name but this is how i know her)
p___q111 and oo.u_g.oo - tb girls come and go fast - but the former here so immediately identifiable as a big fan (the madaraningen oversized t-shirt a bit of a giveaway) - she circled the gallery forever - perhaps trying to build up courage to say "hello"? - but she tweeted that she was too nervous - maybe next time...?
cellar_door13 and maid roizu
lim and ___123cm - girls standing next to paintings that they partly resemble
