Kjell Hahn

- people came all day saturday and sunday, drinking fuyuko’s tea, then wine with chiaki while he hit on all the women and tried to get everyone else to buy something. the steady stream of people kept the the small apt in Co-Op Olympia building filled. (the first luxury apt. buliding built in tokyo, made for the 1964 olympics- )

- the guys that drove my frames up to tokyo a few days beforehand made this wild little tea house right in the middle of the apt using bamboo and reed mats from the mountain here. you really felt cut off from the world in that little space, a mini retreat from the metropolitan mess going in every direction outside.

- fuyuko and mome chan wore the hand-made kimonos chiaki painted and fuyuko sewed… they looked nice but since chiaki insisted on using the same materials he paints on when doing theater work they weren’t very comfortable.

- it was actually the first time i saw fuyuko do the tea ceremony (her family business), something deeply connected to japanese history and culture, but to be honest can be kind of boring-especially for a foreigner. most westerners sit through one or two as a cultural experience during their stay here but will probably never go again. i’ve attended the required number of them to check it off my list of japanese studies but really didnt have that much interest in it before the show.

- this show was quite different from any of the stuffy, rule-filled formal occasions i have attended to date. the quirky little setup they had in that 5th floor apt was a nice shock to my system, and has me reconsidering my opinion on the subject.

got in late last night from tokyo.
things went well.
a lot of pictures to go through from the show.

(view from inside teahouse installation)

well, everything loaded up and sent off to tokyo.
-
thems some big frames.

ceiling bad, kjell smash
(sorry about the partial nudity- it be hot)

Im taking a break from the studio repairs for a few days getting ready for fuyuko and chiaki’s exhibition in harajuku. im supposed to make lids for the various containers used in the tea ceremony.

making kimonos for the tea ceremony exhibition.
chiaki painted the design on the cloth and everyone else did all the work putting everything together.
i think fuyuko stayed up until 4 am sewing last night.

***upcoming exhibition***
- i only have some frames i helped make in this show but just about everyone i know here has done something to put this together. its the opeing of a new gallery and Fuyuko’s first solo performance. Ill put up an image of the postcard soon.

“Today again the lizard imitates a small bird, imitates the soil”
「とかげは今日も小鳥の真似、土の真似」

2009.6.27[sat]　–7.12[sun] 14:00-19:00　 [closed tues]

CHIAKI HORIKOSHI AND FUYUKO KOBORI EXHIBITION

OPENING SHOW OF GEKKA NO KAIZITSUKAI GALLERY
Across from Tokyo’s Harajuku Stn. in Coop Olympia Bldg. 5th Floor room 533
(please sign in at the front desk on the first floor)
CHIAKI HORIKOSHI’S PAINTINGS, CERAMICS AND TEAROOM INSTALLATION
FUYUKO KOBORI PERFORMING TEA CEREMONY IN ENSHU KOBORI STYLE


(please make reservations in advance as only 15 people can participate at time)
contact Hitomi at 090-9970-7582 or email at sp3555uu9@water.ocn.ne.jp

超限定芸術展覧會　堀越千秋展
一日千秋の思いが、月下の果実を生みました。

期間：2009年6月27日(土)～7月12日(日)
時間：14:00～19:00（火曜休廊）
定員：各回15名様限定/入場無料　※要予約
会場：原宿コープオリンピア5F 533号
住所：渋谷区神宮前6-35-3 コープオリンピア533室
ご予約・お問合せ：Tel&Fax. 03-6427-9347/Mobile.090-9970-7582/mail.sp355uu9@water.ocn.ne.jp

エキシビジョン・ディレクター香月人美が、画家・堀越千秋氏を招い て、第一回「月下の果実會」を開催。この会のために制作された画家の 特別な作品が空間を埋め尽くします。また、初日・二日の両日及び各土・日には小堀芙由子氏（小堀遠州流）による茶の湯のおもてなしも用意させて頂いております。

参加ご希望の方は、参加日前日までにTelかメールでお申込みください。
なお、参加者数が定員になり次第、締切らせていただきますのでご了承ください。
※今回はマンションの一室での個展のため入場制限させて頂きます。
※ご来場の方は1階のフロントにひと声かけてから5階の会場にお越しいただきますようお願いいたします

studio updates:
*after a few more incidents with the japanese ghetto master (apparently everyone has a similar story to mine, the guy is something of a walking disaster area) even the landlord had had enough so she called in the big guns and got some professional roofers to go over the tile section of the building. the only remaining part to be done roof-wise is the front of the building. back in the day the guys who slapped that addition on could really give my modern master a run for his money. it would take too much time to go into now but trust me, it would be hard to make it and weaker and keep the building standing.

**other than that electricity now runs to every room and I got most of the lighting done.

***im getting better with doing shikui (traditional japanese plaster walls). it can be a pain, but in some ways it works better than paint because you are really just building a new wall on top of the old one.

kjell hahn applying shikui (plaster)- making traditional walls in his onishi studio.

working hard in the studio.

***im not picking up the phone because the japanese ghetto master wants to do some more sensei-ing. his plans have expanded to hanging doors, installing windows and replacing a main support of the building. damn it.

potatoes are in season now. we had six plants in our garden. its been hard to get anything to grow well since we had to remove part of a parking lot to make the garden and the soil is kind of dead. half the potatoes got a disease turning the leaves yellow and the spuds black. some friendly neighbors who walk past the studio most nights invited me up to their second house a few km into the mountains to go dig up some of their potatoes… ive never seen these people’s first house but the one in the mountains is HUGE. the stepping stones leading up to the place were made from massive boulders, more boulders made up one of the gates into the place and all the ceilings were tall, at least 10 or 12 feet high with all kinds of neat little hand-carved woodwork. (quite unusual here- I will hit my head somewhere in most Japanese homes ). they even had samurai armor on display and there were so many rooms spread out all over the place that it didn’t really stand out or seem tacky.

- so they took us to the potato garden and not only are they rich they had much better gardening results than us. Some of their success is probably due to them having all their soil shipped in from Hokkaido since the earth here is too rocky. good for them…
maybe someday i will have so much money that i will wont know what to do with it and will start shipping earth around the planet.

***update on japanese ghetto master***
- the fascination with the man may be wearing off… at first i appreciated the free labor but now i would kind of like him to go away. unfortunately, like a stray cat once you give him a little food, he is going to stick around.

- yesterday he came by to check on his twig and tin roofing masterpiece. satisfied with the water damage from the storm he turned his attention to detail work. the neighbor was complaining because the new roof pours water over the tops of the old gutter and on to her porch. his solution was a true work of art. why bring the gutter up when you can bring the roof down? he climbed out onto the eaves of the roof, leaning out away from the building and braced himself against the neighbors house. so there is just that little overhanging part of the roof under him. he started kicking down on the overhanging metal as hard as he could with all his weight centered over the empty space between the buildings. knowing the thickest piece of wood holding him 25 feet above a concrete patio was only 2 inches at best and that we were repairing the roof because of years of water damage, i backed away from the edge unable to speak. i didnt want to break the master’s concentration. watching the roof bend several inches with each blow i very much wanted to speak up. it was only another challenge to the student. he has so much to teach me.

- I forgot to mention it was raining and the roof is made out of the same material as those metal slides in public parks. well, the master decided to play a trick on me and instead of breaking the roof and falling to his death (which was the only thing i thought was going to happen) he slipped on the wet metal- something i hadnt even thought about with the other possibility of imitate death. wow, he got me there!

- of course he caught himself after a short tumble, looking up at me with a knowing twinkle in his eye. that is why he is the master of the japanese ghetto style.

- tomorrow he wants to help inside the studio…. shit. i need to change the locks or something… i dont think i can take much more training.

- at least now its finally warm enough to swim in the rivers around here again. so after having several near-heart attacks working with the ghetto master its nice to know i have a place to relax.