I am going to blame the chaos of this week on the moon. With two giant snow storms in a city unused to any, a visit from my brother and four appointments each in new locations of Tokyo, I think I burnt out my stress metre. Today is Sunday; it’s sunny and I am going to clean house, re-arrange the furniture and answer all the emails that have been waiting. At 4 in the afternoon yesterday, I was adding a few finishing touches to a file I was preparing for a presentation of my work that I was going to […]

So, next March 3rd is Girl’s Day in Japan and May 5th is Boy’s Day. For girl’s day, there is often a display set up in homes of dolls that have been handed down in the family and Emiko pointed one out in the Nishi Ogikubo Subway Station, the other day when I visited her. For boy’s day, there is a tradition of flying streamers in the shape of fish (carp) in the river. Boys still have more fun! Here is a set of cards I bought in a local stationary shop, and like so much of the stuff we […]

I know that I have to give myself extra time when going to a new destination. I did today, but not quite enough to negotiate the maze of Shinjuku, one of the biggest subway stations in probably the world. I had to find the JR Chuo line to Nishi Ogikubo and I couldn’t find where to buy the ticket. I got on the train going the right way, but it didn’t stop where I had to get off, so I had to  backtrack on a local train. I was more that 15 minutes late arriving at Nishi Ogikubo Station where […]

The day after the storm, we trundled through wet snow in shoes not ready for that, in a city unaccustomed to dealing with so much snow. But that didn’t stop us; the sun came out and everywhere people where busy making snowmen and snow forts. We took a train to the little island of Odaiba to watch the sun set behind the city across Tokyo bay. On the train to Odaiba

With the arrival of my brother Norman and my nephew Cameron came a week of something extremely rare for Tokyo: snowy weather -rather unfortunate for winter-weary Canadian travellers, but interesting for sightseeing! The featured image is borrowed from the internet news, the rest I’ve taken over the past few days.

  I am watching the clock. I want to record the sound of the bells at 5pm. The light begins to dim in the sky and brighten in the gauntlet of skyscraper windows that dot the jagged edge of horizon that is my back yard. My body is still not sure about being perched so high in the sky. I make drawings of angels with very long skinny wings that drag on the ground and I imagine them sitting on the tops of those buildings, then getting up and jumping from building top to top, as if it were their […]

Exhibiting right now in the Mori Museum on the 59rd floor of the Mori Tower is 15 minutes Eternal, the most gigantic, comprehensive show I’ve ever seen of Andy Warhol. Tucked in the tiny project room at the end is Decrees, a two-video installation by the young Peruvian artist, Gabriel Acevedo Velarde. The room is small and dark off the main corridor and most people simply slide by headed to the gift shop, without even noticing. After sitting in on his artist talk on Saturday, I went there specifically to see this work and it was surely one of the best […]

The ocean and swimming are two things I begin to work with in the project that for the moment has no name. I draw and write to work out possible narratives in the form of a storyboard, one that will eventually become a short animated video. I am not very good with making storyboards. In fact,  I am terribly impatient and want to jump immediately to the camera. But,  I won’t be able to go too far conceptually, because I need to see how the materials will act…they always end up contributing to the narrative. I want to keep it […]

Tonight my door is open and there is a giant bouquet of pussy willows in the lobby downstairs. It’s not spring here yet, but compared to Montreal, it’s spring-like and has been since my arrival. I sent my hat and scarf home with Paul and I’ll happily send my coat off with whoever comes next. I started work today -the beginning drawings of a storyboard for a video animation – my first with paper taking the leading role! I am beginning to feel like I am here.                  

Five floors in downtown Tokyo and it was full of stuff and even fuller with all the people…on a Sunday afternoon! The giant brush is in a calligraphy store in Ginza called Kyukyodo. The other photos were taken at Sekaido in Shinjuku. (Maranouchi line to Shinjuku Sanchome Station, take exit C1,  it should be just to your right maybe 50ft.) I am still in awe of the brushes. There were rows and rows of different kinds of brushes, but what kind of painting could one possibly make with a peacock feather brush? That brush is the painting.