saskatoon

ah~, it’s so nice to be on the street with my drawings.  i started busking at the fringe festival here in saskatoon last night.  this is my first fringe since elijah came along.  and this is my first time ever being away from elijah for more than an hour.

i’ve been showing my drawings at galleries nowadays, which is very nice.  but i really like being on the street, where most of the people who come by are there just to look around, not because they’re particularly interested in art or in my drawings.  i like the randomness of having people stumble upon my work and seeing their reactions, good and bad.

the busking areas at the fringe have been very busy already this year.  i’ve been setting up on broadway, near 10th.  i have a little table with books of prints and postcards that people can browse through at their own speed.  there are a couple little stands that i put single prints in, so people can see them from a distance walking by.

some of the prints and postcards are of my newer drawings that i’ve never made into prints before.  the only one of the newer drawings that i’ve shown in saskatoon before is ‘new wings’.  the other new drawings are on first view, but i’ve already put the images up on my blog.

for the fringe festival i do a different printing technique than the archival prints i sell in my online shop.  they’re not as expensive to make, so i can sell the 8.5 x 11 prints for $10.  postcards are sold for $2 each, or 6 for $10 (i’m from kansai, i have to offer a good deal).  people keep telling me the prices are way too cheap.  i want them to be cheap enough that even little kids don’t have to worry about the cost if they find an image of mine they want to take home.

this year i’ve already had a lot of people coming up to me who know me from somewhere — my blog readers, people who remember me from previous shows in saskatoon, and even some asian girls who saw my drawings in the hong kong fashion magazine, milk.

a couple people asked for my autograph.  i double-checked to make sure they weren’t out of their minds.

i got a few negative reactions — people saying ‘urrghh’, or ‘creepy’ — but not as many as i was expecting.  one older woman did sniff at me with a disapproving face, which i was glad to see.  i don’t know why, but those negative comments don’t hurt me anymore.  i kind of enjoy them.  a couple of harsh comments go a long way to motivate me to draw more.

i ran into some of the local artists as well — artist kris moffatt, poet taylor leedahl who is representing local book company jackpine press, artist carole epp, and young artist michael.  i’m hoping to meet the artist kristin bjornerud who will be back in saskatoon for the summer from hamilton.

if you’re in saskatoon, come and see me on the street at the fringe festival!  you can say whatever you want, and you don’t have to pretend to be nice.  i’ll be happy to see you anyway.

i’m taking part in a group show called ‘environmental 911′ at gordon snelgrove gallery at university of saskatchewan.  it’s been a while since i got to show my drawings in saskatoon.  i’m very happy.

we’ll be at the closing reception probably from 7 to 8pm-ish.  please come and say hi if you’re around in saskatoon.

oh, this drawings is called “new wings”.  16 x 20″

Gordon Snelgrove Gallery

3 Campus Dr.  Saskatoon

elijah and i are taking part in city park artists showcase tomorrow night. i’ll be selling prints, postcards and maybe small originals. if you’re around in saskatoon, please come and have a good time. there will be music, poetry reading, some sample food from local restaurants, and of course art work from local saskatoon artists.

this will be my first art fair since the birth of elijah. i’m really looking forward to this.

city park artists showcase
hosted by city park community association

Featured City Park Artists are: Chris Savage— Ivor Jones— Judith Bensen— David Geary— Lia Sunshine— Celine Schmidt— City Park Cycle — Wendy Waters — Kathyrn Trembach — Lynn McGinnis (Musician) — Shannon Brunner — Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan — CFCR — Taylor Leedahl — Mike Magnussen — Kris Engstrom — Priscella Settee — Yuka Yamaguchi — City Park Preschool —CPCA — Milton Taylor (Photographer) — City Park Collegiate Art department — Tannis Pratt — Craig Nelson — Tammy Boehmer — Pete Burgess

Music by:

Sean Hogan David Hutton Paul Tobin

Poetry performance by:

Taylor Leedahl

Date:
Friday, April 18, 2008
Time:
7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:
City Park Collegiate- Gymnasium
Street:
820 9th Ave North
City/Town:
Saskatoon, SK

$10 admission ( also includes coffee/tea/punch and samples of food)
Kids under 12 free

(click image to go to this page)

a saskatoon design company, beagle productions contacted me to be part of their online gallery of saskatoon artists. some of my artist friends here in saskatoon are also on the spotlight. you should check them out. the purpose of this project is to attract visitors to saskatoon. i hope a lot of people will come to saskatoon. saskatoon is booming, you know.

Our Curio

The Spotlight on Visual Art Curio in Beagle Productions showcases Saskatoon’s eclectic collection of artists and their paintings through an in-person display as well as kiosk and web technology. This Curio builds on the growing popularity and success of the Crescent’s art community by providing the opportunity to display these impressive works year round and to a broader audience. Not only does this add value to the cultural community in Saskatoon, but it will also encourage an appreciation for local art, culture and heritage by making it easier for artists to present and the public to find impressive local art.

(click the image to enlarge)

i was invited to donate artwork for a silent auction being organized by the miracles for children foundation.

a black tie gala will be held tonight (june 21st) at saskatoon inn, in support of children with degenerative eye blindness. cocktails start at 6:30pm followed by dinner, a guest speaker and a silent art auction.

for the auction, i have donated this original drawing called “swing”. i chose this because there’s a child in it, and it’s one of my few drawings that is not too offensive to most people.

i won’t be able to attend this event, but i hope many people find this drawing interesting and worth bidding on.

there is a review of my show at the mendel art gallery in this week’s edition of planet S, saskatoon’s city magazine. i’m happy to find that the reviewer understands what i’m doing, with the review titled “the beauty of grotesque”. the reviewer says “[my drawings] are seeming to be part of a larger whole that Yamaguchi is pointing toward”. i think my drawings make sense when they are seen all together, as part of one experience. that’s why i like to hang as many drawings on one wall as possible, maybe not even using frames so they can all be close together. that way, nothing is separating my drawings from each other, and also, i don’t have to buy frames.

i also like the ending part: “This juxtaposition, creating a place where we can neither be only horrified or simply think happy, cutesy thoughts makes Yamaguchi’s work both enjoyable and memorable.” i can’t separate those feelings in my mind. they are not opposites to me, they are all living in my head at the same time. i guess my art work is kind of like “yami-nabe style”. everything is all mixed together, and you never know what you’re going to get.

here is the review:

The Beauty Of Grotesque

YAMAGUCHI’S WORK BLURS LINE BETWEEN HUMOUR, HORROR
by Bart Gazzola

PERSONAL :: POLITICAL
YUKA YAMAGUCHI, DAVE GEARY
MENDEL ART GALLERY
RUNS TO SUNDAY 3

Yuka Yamaguchi is currently exhibiting at the Mendel Art Gallery, through an ongoing gallery project titled “Artists by Artists.” The project pairs an experienced artist (in this case, Yuka is paired with noted Saskatoon artist and frequent Planet S contributor extraordinaire Dave Geary) with a more emerging one, with the resulting work exhibited in the lower space at the Mendel.

Over the past few years, the concept has been interpreted in different ways by the different participants: sometimes the result features solely the work of the junior artist, and other times a collaborative installation takes place. In regards to the current installation, Yamaguchi explains on her website that the pair made the decision to collaborate on Personal : Political because Geary’s work, with its propaganda motifs and socialist imagery is the latter, whereas Yamaguchi’s work seems to be very much biographical—a personal narrative that is being shared with the viewer.

Yamaguchi was also one of a number of artists who exhibited at the now-defunct Royal Red Gallery: her small, delicate drawings immediately pulled the viewer in, even in that massive space—and they’re as well-executed as they are disturbing. Her bio describes her as a self-taught artist, from Kobe, Japan, stating that “her drawings are inward-looking, reaching both extremes of cute and grotesque.” Very simply done, with coloured pencil or ballpoint pen—and always seeming to be part of a larger whole that Yamaguchi is pointing towards—her works are indicators that sometimes art school can be the worst thing for a potential artist. Her unique, bizarre vision could easily have been lost there, or subjected to the usual problem of instructors wanting to create younger versions of themselves.

Works such as “New Heartbeat”, where a young girl holds her very anatomically correct heart to her ear in a gesture of love or listening, or “After All…”, where a boy is partly flayed by what looks like a common kitchen utensil, easily fit within the grotesque. But “Chicken Fight”, or “Self Portrait, Age 17”, are both . . . well, cute. Not a word I use often, but it applies here.

Some works incorporate both of these seemingly disparate concepts, such as “Inseparable”, where a cute, pre-teen couple are tying themselves together by their respective hanging tendons and muscles, which hang in ribbons from their severed calves. Both are smiling, and seem pleased with the arrangement, and I am reminded of the Japanese horror film Audition, which was really a love story, with the classic admonition that “you must love only me.” “All I Can See” is both creepy and very, very funny, and will make some men reconsider before they carry on a conversation with a woman’s breasts instead of her face.

On her website (www.plastiquemonkey.com) she explains that her latest endeavour is the “turn everything around you cute and fun” project, and her sense of humour is clear in her work, although sometimes that humour at play is somewhat black. This juxtaposition, creating a place where we can neither be only horrified or simply think happy, cutesy thoughts makes Yamaguchi’s work both enjoyable and memorable.

also, it looks like i am on Bravo!News this week. i was interviewed by them back in april. i don’t have a cable connection at the moment (we’re moving this week), so i don’t know. i was also interviewed by the local Shaw TV channel. the interview aired in mid-april. again, i didn’t watch tv enough to catch it. if you are watching tv sometime tomorrow in canada, you might see me actually talking.