I was thinking recently that my last trip to Japan was almost ten years ago. I remember sitting in the Daimaru department store cafe, in Tottori City, on the first day of my first show, and wondering, what on earth am I doing here, half way around the world trying to sell my art? And then, wondering, what if nothing sells?
Though I am not an actor, I do create little dramas on canvas. Truth be told, I do that in real life as well occasionally. So, I always liked the Roddy Mcdowall quote, “I still have the actor’s disease. I always think I’ll never get another job.” As an artist, I always think, my last sale will be my last sale. Is that the artist’s disease?Then the call from the show, we had our first sale and we were off to a great start. I got to watch the “SOLD” tickets multiply, and wall of sales from the ones taken with the collectors, grow. It was the most successful show they had had in terms of number of sales. It was over thirty in two days.
In the end, the experience was amazing. The shows were all successful though I started every one, feeling like nothing would sell. And every one of them did very well.It made up for working that hard for three years in a row. The feeling of sitting there with the person who is buying your work is incomparable.
The whole set up there was totally different. They set aside a massive space on one level of the multi-level stores. The company brought in their own displays and then, the show was hung. All the walls were filled and the staff came in, very formal and consisting of several people. There were lots of women salespeople too and let me tell you, they were fierce. I’d hear the call of, “Sensei!”, and I was to come over and explain the story of the painting and title. I do believe there was a bit of embellishing going on because sometimes, I’d say that the title, for example, “Just Kids”, meant just that; just kids. That would be followed by about ten minutes of explanation. So perhaps, a bit of embellishing.
I had found out after my arrival that the artist presented the customer with a gift at the time of purchase. It was a miniature painting on a presentation board, edged with gold foil, called a shikishi. So having a successful show meant I also painted more than thirty paintings at the one show alone. The second year I returned, I was ready and brought my own paints and brushes and that went a bit easier though I still worked very hard. But, what fun I had.
I had also learned, for my second trip there, to write in Kanji, “Happiness Forever”, to inscribe under my name when I signed the back. I wanted to make a special effort for such an appreciative audience, and it was so well received it literally brought tears to my eyes. And I received applause from the staff after my first attempt.
So while browsing through my photo albums, I thought I’d show a few of these. It had taken me ten years to get around to it but there it is. The photos brought back fond memories for me.
