Tokyo (as you know) is a h.u.g.e city, and while the metro might be a synch to travel, finding cosy arts venues and local events is a much, much harder task to achieve. We've come into plenty of luck though, having some great local friends to show us neat spots to check out. Needless to say we were thrilled to hear about Guido Argentini's Unpublished Works exhibition at Galerie Sho Contemporary Art and attend their opening last Thursday night.
It took a bit of backwards and forwards tracking to find the tucked away, blue-lit entrance to the gallery, but finally we got to escape the cold and enter a world of art not so much different from Brisbane's. From where I stood, Argentini's works were somewhat burlesque-meets-playboy and I struggled a little to find a personal connection between the subjects of his portraits and the ideology behind the works themselves. It was only after I discovered Argentini's background fascination with fashion and magazine photography that I came to understand and appreciate the reasons behind his methods.
The real highlights for me, however, were the space itself - all white walls and roof pipes - the impromptu Spanish dancing from one of the artist's friends, and the warmth of the local Tokyo arts community (they knew we were total randoms).
Miho Shida / 20 / Model
1. What did you think of the Guido Argentini Unpublished Works exhibition? I liked the photography.
2. What is your favourite place in Tokyo? Omotesando.
3. Who is your favourite designer? Alexander Wang
4. What are you doing this weekend? Working (modelling)
5. What is your biggest fear? Nothing! I don’t have one.
Isaac (Isaku) Goto / 24 / about to graduate from sculpture at Tokyo University of Fine Arts
1. What did you think of the Guido Argentini Unpublished Works exhibition? There are lots of pictures of beautiful women. My general impression is… fleshy feeling – it makes me want to re-enact (the poses).
2. What was the last arts event you attended? An exhibition here actually (Galerie Sho). It was about hyper-realism and featured multidiscipline art forms.
3. What is your favourite place in Tokyo? I like my university because I get to see a great variety of works, a lot of works from different departments which is very inspiring.
4. What are you looking forward to? People who get involved in art are generally very pretentious. I want art to be more accessible for people.
5. What is your biggest fear? Realising that I may be talentless.
