We will have four of our artists at beacon night tomorrow: Joji Shimamoto, Masumi Yoshida, Gakushi Yamamoto and Atsushi Takahashi.  Masumi and Atsushi will give demos.  We’ll also have door prizes and about 25 works for sale at prices more than 20% less than our usal prices–we hope to raise a lot of money for 2nd Harvest Japan too.

This is a packed week for art lovers.  After art night @ beacon there is Tokyo 101, Tokyo Art Fair–and don’t forget Tagboat Young Artists Show–everything is happening next weekend. There are also 2 auctions and the bacon prize party too.

Also, an interesting video from the bbc on the art market.  Worth watching:

http://tinyurl.com/dg3sf3

Great art is made everywhere.  Some places have a concentration because of the good art schools and a community that encourages artists.  Thailand has some great artists and we do have several that we promotoe.  Here is another one–a wonderful sculptor who is at Silpakorn University.  Besides this iron work, he also works in wood.

Like Redy Rehadian in Indonesia, this artist went to technical school before art school.  He knows his materials well.

Had a good group of people visit us this past weekend for the opening of color, color, color show.  Yes, there was a ton of color, but almost everything we sold was black and white.  Go figure.

We had very good reaction to Mario Tauchi’s skateboards and Atsushi Takahashi’s large paintings.

We are getting ready for Art Night@beacon and it looks like we will emphasize the younger artists from Asia.  it’s a good thing.

Also, do you know of our rotating exhibitions at the Intercontinental/ANA Hotel in Akasaka? We have a rotating selection of Japanese and Asian works from a range of internationally renowned artists. Many small works that can fit in your suitcase if you are a traveler. They are on the second and third floor of the hotel and each piece is available for purchase. Go over and take a look and see the hotel concierge to purchase.

Started tweeting and it is addictive. You can see my tweets at twitter.com

and just search for TokyoArt Guy.

Hitoshi took this great pic of Wang Yi Fei’s work in the gallery.  Amazing what a good photographer can do.  We will have his work at Art Night @ beacon too.  Will send it off to him now. Yi Fei will love it.  That is Mario Tauchi’s painted skateboard over on the left.  He has a live painting show in Ebisu today.  Hitoshi will go–I will be in the gallery so please drop by.

Went hunting for diamonds [great artists] in Tokyo on Thursday and still hunting.  Went to the student graduation show at Tama Art University and found  one artist that I would like  to invite to join our gallery–and he may already have another gallery.  He is planning to go to graduate school and seemed in no hurry to sell.  His work was very good–and I looked at the works of about 200 artists.

How tough is the life of an artist in Japan?  This is one of the best art universities in Japan and so few will ever be able to  sell enough work to live and thrive. But they will add to our lives here. And they will do what they love to do.

Last night, our new show Color! Color! Color! opened–actually it was open all day since it was a Japanese Holiday.  So many people were interested in the work of Atsushi Takahashi [right] and Masumi Yoshida.  They have their followers now too–same as Joji Shimamoto.  We also had people interested in the works of some of our Thai artists as well as artists from the Gutai period.

A lot of artists came which made the opening more fun.  Taizo Hashimoto, whom we hadn’t seen in a while came by to show us his new work.  Kenta Mie, who has two pieces in this show also came by.  Many first time visitors too.  We are getting ready for Art Night @ beacon and I am glad that we will have a good mix of Japanese, non-Japanese, artists, range of ages. etc.  Should be fun.

Many people are excited about this event.  In these times, something new and different can get people out of any funk they might be in.

Went over to beacon last week and had dinner.  Great food and staffing.  Nice people.  Many people are calling us to make a reservation, so the promotion we are doing must be working.  It’s a different kind of event and it is part of our dream to bring artists and business people together.

How often do you have a chance to meet and talk with an artist?  There will be many chances like this at Art Night @ beacon.  Here’s the current list of who will be there:

Joji Shimamoto–young photographer, people tell us he reminds them of Daido Moriyama.

Masumi Yoshida-just a 3rd year student at Joshibi-women’s art university, but has pioneered the use of new techniques.

Atsushi Takahashi–he’s a painter who reminds me of Winner Jumalon from the Philippines combined with Jackson Pollock–although he hates–like all artists d0-to compared with anyone else.  He is truly unique.

Gakushi Yamamoto–our first young artist, a first-class sculptor and son of a buddhist priest who puts everything he knows into his work.

Mario Tauchi–grew up in four different countries. His work reminds people of the pop artists of the 1960′s.  I love his paintings on traditional Japanese scrolls as well as his work on skateboards.

This weekend, we open a new show and a lot of the work from Art Night @ beacon will be in the gallery.

There have been a proliferation of patisseries in Tokyo recently.  Not sure why,  but read somewhere that it has to do with some famous patissiers from Japan being successful in Paris, and some TV shows that have made certain patissiers into stars.

Loving sweets as I do, I feel compelled to stop and try out these new shops and invariably, I am disappointed.  The stuff looks good and the atmosphere is “oh so french”, but the taste is not there.

That’s why I am compelled to write about a wonderful patisserie in Naka-Meguro called 1904-dix neuf cent quatre.  [Excuse my ignorance--is it a famous year in French history, like the day eclairs were invented?]  In any case, this place has been open for about 2- 3 years and I thought the name was a bit pretentious and I didn’t think the place would last-and only went in there a couple of times.

But today, as I was taking my morning walk, I really wanted a croissant or something and a visit to a regular bakery wouldn’t do, so I went down to visit 1904 and was shocked at the number of people who had the same thing in mind.  They are on a small side-street, but there must have been another 5-6 people all headed for the same place.

I ordered a “sweet croissant” and a pear pastry.  Oishii yo!!  I ate the pear pastry first at the table they have outside the shop and was surprised to find some cream underneath the pear which made the pear taste even more delicious.  The pastry was flaky but still had texture so it didn’t all crumble when I bit on it.  To top it all off, one of the staff members–maybe the wife of the owner–came out and gave me a glass of water as I ate outside–and it was in a clean glass with clear ice.

The sweet croissant was just as good.  Another thing that I liked about the place is that they have a sign out front where they wrote “Happy Birthday” to kids–maybe those who ordered cakes-who were celebrating their birthday that day.

I wonder if they will write my name on the board when my birthday comes up soon–and I wonder if Hitoshi will order a cake for me there.  Please tell 1904 that I sent you when you go there–and please tell Hitoshi that Tokyo Art Guy would like a cake from there–and I would like to see my name on the sign outside as well.

Here is the address:
153-0043 Tokyo Meguro-ku Higashiyama 2-5-
Tel/Fax 03 3792 1904

You can get more info on their website by clicking here.

To get there, go to Naka-Meguro Station, exit the station to the left and walk about 1KM.  When you pass a gigantic AM/PM , you will almost be there. Continue a bit more until you come to a burger shop, take a left and about 150 meters on the right, you’ll see 1904 on your right, next to a cleaning shop.

I like galleries that stick with their vision.  One that is totally living in its truth is Gallery Terashita which shows only minimalist art.  The first time I walked in to their small space, I felt like I had found a compatriate in showing similar kind of art.

The big difference between him and me:  He only shows minimalist works and we show many different types of abstract work as well as portraits.

In this economy, many galleries are closing or more typically, cutting back on their new shows.  Not Gallery Terashita.  He is opening up a new gallery.  Now he will have two galleries–one in Kyobashi and another in Ginza.  Good for him and the artworld.  I show some examples of his artists’ works here.  You can find a map on line and you also can call them at 03-3564-6300.  One way I find their Kyobashi location is to go to Meidi-Ya in Kyobashi and it’s right across the street–in B 2.  You know it has to be good to survive in a B2 location.