I've been reading Miranda July's blogs and interviews with her and watching YouTube clips from her movie all morning. She's a great character, just very honest and real. Not that she's a 'character' like someone who's made up, but I don't know her so I can't exactly say she's a great person. She has a kind of earnest lightness, or a light earnestness that makes me feel good.
When I first saw You Me and Everyone We Know I thought it was just OK. I liked certain things about it a lot, but I found it a bit self-conscious, or found the pace a bit forced or something, just in general. But taken in the context of her whole work, you figure out a bit more where she's coming from, and it becomes a whole lot more likable. A long narrative like a feature film I guess, when it's made by someone who's perhaps less of a 'pro', comes out as different, uses different narrative techniques and different scales of events, and less conventional structures. I guess I was just being conservative in how I looked at it.
Like, OK (bear with me), when I chatted with TP and said it was hot here and I was wearing a skirt and t-shirt, and he commented about how cold it was there and he wished he was wearing a skirt, and I went ha ha boys in skirts. MJ probably would have said, yeah, boys should try wearing skirts because it's light and airy in summer and they don't know what they're missing. Whereas I had a small-scale knee-jerk conservatism. 'Haha, you're a boy and you said you wished you had a skirt, haha'.
Which brings me to an astute observation made by my ex-pat host the other day, which is that here (Japan) there is no concept of the 'tryhard' such as in Australia. We had seen some wannabe (see there it is again!) like boy band/girl group j-pop kind of singing teams practicing in the park, and thought that no young people would do that in Australia, because they'd be laughed at. She reckons that in Japanese culture, people respect people for trying hard, at whatever it is, and would not judge you negatively for it. She claims there's an absence of cynicism about people's aspirations and actions here (I'm wildly paraphrasing), and that people are hence more encouraging and experimental. She called it an absence of irony, I think. She said she'd miss it when she left.
It's a fairly appealing quality. I imagine I'd have trouble shaking my sense of irony. Probably a balanced approach would do. We yam what we yam, a bit.
Anyway, Miranda July's movie blog has a post from Paris about spending the day in looking at antique lace in a store. She picks four bits and buys them and makes a lace collar in homage to the Viktor and Rolf clothes she will never own. It made me feel better about what I've been doing here. And also like today might be the day I go and buy the curtain fabric.
I'm so impressionable!
[Meta-moment: OMG, this means I can reuse that post label I thought would never ever come up again!)
I was looking actually at the YouTube clips (it's all about Miranda) to find that part of the movie where there's a visit to an artist's studio. The visitors try to get rid of the artist's trash and he's all 'don't touch that sculpture!', and when they get stuck into admiring another work, it turns out to be his coffee cup or something. I couldn't find it. This happens to me all the time with my work. I was reminded of it because I went to a Martin Creed exhibition here a couple of days ago, who I bet this happens to all the time. He probably enjoys it. It happens to me, and I get frustrated, thinking 'does this mean I'm a gimmicky one joke artist like Martin Creed?'. (Disclaimer: I don't know anything about Martin Creed's work really. I'm sure it's complex and interesting. Most things are, even a screwed up piece of paper.)
The show I saw had that work in it. It was in a small side room. I started to go towards it and the gallery attendant stopped me, explaining that it was the office. I guess they don't feel it's important that people can get close to that particular piece of work. I encourage you to look at that work. I guess I was thinking of that when I made this. What a hack.
When I gave my newly developed short spiel about my work the other day to a friend of my host, she asked me 'but why?'. I mean, what can you say to that?
I'm going to take this opportunity to find out about Creed's practice properly.
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5 comments:
I was quite moved by that film. I liked the film-maker and warmed to the honest and unpretentious insight into life through her eyes. And I really enjoyed that view; her appreciation of beauty and the delicacy of souls, and as you say, the absence of cynicism.
I'd say I would like Japan's absence of cynicism too. The cynicism here gets very tiring, and I think is contributed to by an awareness of the self-obsessed agenda of most individuals and the repressed emotional state of many, particularly men. The cynicism is like a self protective film against showing too much of ourselves, or of being so honest with someone that it makes them uncomfortable. Emotional honesty and compassion; we lack them in Australian society. They weren't lacking in that film. I liked it.
i didn't know my comments would be wildly paraphrased in the media!
but anyway, i asked a japanese friend once what she thought about that. irony and cynicism in japan and she said (wildly paraphrasing): "japanese people don't like to be too critical, but i do have one friend who makes those kinds of comments about people's work and i like to laugh at her comments but i would never make such comments..."
also, once, at the supermarket i heard a couple of the staff saying "iraishaimase" over and over (you know, that word that people always yell at you when you walk into a store) but with some sarcasm. like as if one said to the other, how was your day? and the other said, the usual, iraishaimase iraishaimase iraishaimase....
i was deeply shocked. it was like the mask had slipped.
i think try-hard might only be an insult in australia? maybe also in the uk? in japanese there's a word "gambaru" which means something like to try hard or to do your best and people use it so often (it was one of the first words i learnt) but as an encouragement.
i think you have to leave a lot of room for all the things that i don't understand in japan for they are many. there's certainly something very freeing about living here but it might be partly that i'm on the outside.
la di da la di da
also, you have been blogged about in japanese:
tokyofriday.blogspot.com
also, i spelt irashaimase wrong.
This is my favourite part of the bit about me (me me me):
EMMA is interesting that her question the truth of existence and artist. Title is "I really want to be true"
So many of my works could have that title.
I'm sorry for paraphrasing you wildly in the 'media'.
:(
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