Tokyo.点 x Zongy
Posted on May 26, 2008
Filed Under Artist |
Two distinct Tokyos exist for me. But it is its initial mark that has forever made an impression on me.
My first introduction to Tokyo was coupled with my launch into adolescence. Under the influence of pubescent energy and its unbridaled tendency for discovery, I navigated the spaces and shapes of both the city and the topography of my own self.
The aesthetic experience of being in Japan submerged my imagination with everything exquisite, from the garish colors and sounds of pachinko parlors to the placid nature and european city guide NHK programs set to classical music, from the perfect packaging at every purchase to the hyper-pure, cosmetic-only advertising and publishing industries. I grew with the swelling of the Bubble – unaware of the affluent economy and its emerging society ravaging the status quo of economic prowess, its own cultural integrity and sense of identity – until it burst, and I coincidentally left. And for nearly a decade I managed to maintain not merely nostalgia but a real archive of all that Tokyo had provided me with who I am and what I do. When I watch Marker’s Sans Soleil or Wender’s Tokyo-ga or read Barthe’s Empire of Signs, I feel they are my memories recorded.
I think if making something particular to Tokyo means returning to my original experience of it, then I will return to my original if not innocent and unguarded source of inspiration and expression: words.
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