Burart Diary
Bur@rt Diary is published every Monday morning.
It’s a column in which the editor-in-chief of art on writes freely, diary-style, on matters related to art, on things loved in daily life, and on passing thoughts. Please read it whenever you have a spare moment.
Over the weekend I visited Toyota Municipal Museum of Art to see Kenjiro Okazaki’s exhibition “Kaiso of Vision — Strata / Reminiscence.”
The artist himself guided me around the museum’s exhibition spaces for over two hours. As the title “Kaiso of Vision — Strata / Reminiscence” suggests, it was a show that teaches you how to enjoy a museum. A highly recommended exhibition, packed with content. On view until February 24, 2020.
Also, yesterday marked the closing day of Atsuko Yamashita’s solo show “HER.”
Yamashita’s solo exhibition seemed to be strong on both attendance and sales, and I imagine she gained considerable momentum from it. She looks set to be actively engaged again next year, and I have high hopes of seeing even more new works. As with any show, a gallery about to close on its final day carries a distinctive atmosphere — it’s wonderful. Exhibitions are once-in-a-lifetime encounters, quite something.
Being Conscious of Your Own Core
The other day I attended a gathering of corporate marketing professionals and joined a talk session featuring SHOWROOM president Yuji Maeda, Fusosha’s Kosuke Minowa, and Oriental Radio’s Atsuhiko Nakata. The three-way conversation was truly interesting and full of insight, so I’d like to share some highlights.
The theme of the talk was “Unveiling the Essence of ‘Selling,'” with three individuals producing hits in their respective fields spelling out “what elements are essential to selling?”
The overall takeaway was: “Start from your core, and shuttle back and forth with the market.”
I took notes, so I’ll jot down the key points below.
Core refers to originality within yourself — your own awareness, special skill, intensity of feeling, whatever you value, whatever you love. And shuttling back and forth with the market means customizing and polishing your service or product while watching how the market responds.
Even when you’ve thoroughly formulated and tested your hypotheses, you often receive unexpected reactions and criticisms that weren’t part of your initial thinking. Especially now that internet culture is so pervasive, we live in a society where you can easily connect with people you’ve never met. Beyond visible voices, you can also collect footprints and log data. They proposed that growth comes from staying rooted in your core while continually testing it against the market. That said, data verification is nothing more than a look back at the past. What’s essential for approaching the future are things that can’t be measured in numbers — your inner convictions and beliefs.
Oh, and there was an amusing anecdote at the end.
Oriental Radio’s Shingo Fujimori, apparently, was truly a completely ordinary, empty man. There’s a story that even Tamori-san told him backstage, “You really are a man with nothing inside.” However, there’s also the perspective that “there’s something distinctive about being too ordinary” — go and sell that, which led to his becoming the “chara-o” persona.
For those searching for their own “core,” this might be an anecdote that offers a hint.
On Handling Posters
Having picked up posters at the mé exhibition and the Kenjiro Okazaki show, I now face a nagging dilemma about how to handle the ever-growing stack of posters.
Until now, I’d been rolling posters up and storing them in cylindrical tube-cases.
To settle the unease of deliberately rolling up paper that is naturally flat, I finally arrived at the conclusion: “Store posters flat.” Hooray!
The item I hunted for and finally found is King Jim’s “Poster File.”
映画やアニメ好きなTwitter民様からのリクエストが多かったポスターを収納する、その名も「ポスターファイル」を9/20(金) に発売します。B3とB2サイズです。https://t.co/nlDX9V5PcB pic.twitter.com/IDWzm8fOov
— キングジム (@kingjim) 2019年9月3日
This Poster File is a fantastic item. It’s a game-changing product that liberates the version of me that used to hesitate before buying posters. I’m still writing up the review article — will publish it soon. It really is a divine item! Ah, B1-size posters will still go into rolled-up tube cases as before. King Jim, please keep this coming.
Let’s Art!
Let’s throw ourselves into another energetic week.
