Art

by Yukito Yoneyama / 米山ゆきと


I am going to put a hold on my exchange student insanity for a moment.
Instead, I am going to blog on Art.
(If you have Art problems, please close your browser and contact your assigned philosopher immediately.)



"What is Art?"

This seemingly simple 12-letter (including space and a question mark so that they don't feel left out)
question has been haunting me for years, since I stared to "study" Art at educational institutions.
I had encountered countless situations where this very question was raised, when I was working with other artists at a starting co-op Art gallery, and later opened my own place for artistic interactions and exhibitions.

Everyone seemed to have different opinions on the subject, whether they are Artists or not.
Some of them had strong opinions, and the others seemed to be in the process of forming their own ideas/opinions on the matter. 

It is my impression that many of the opinions usually included the word "beauty" or "beautiful".
I have heard in many occasion, "if it's not beautiful, it is not art."
Perhaps, general interpretation of the word "Art" always involve the concept of beauty.
Some would even proudly judge the Art around them according to this measure stick, as if to say, I know Art, and you don't."


From my point of view, this is due to the history and development of "Art".
Prior to the emergence of photography, drawing/painting or sculpting was the only methods to depict the surrounding world. Since the beginning of major civilizations, the rulers or the wealthy patronized the Artists to depict themselves, usually for the purpose of displaying their realm and power.


I personally believe that Art was with us since the origin of human race, however, the general definition of Art mostly was attached to the patron-Artist relationships.
Since there were only handful of people who were able to depict the nature precisely, and Artists had their own lives with things they want to do or had to do to make a living, it is only natural that creation of these portraits of the powerful or divine/deity required patronage = money.

It is easy to guess that if you are depicting the powerful people in the given civilization, you gotta make them look nice. If you don't you might piss them off.

Beauty = money = vanity.

I think Art was put on the pedestal since the dawn of civilization for this reason.
Millenniums later, I believe this formula is still around.

Thanks to the rise of modernism, now Art can freely swing her arms in many different forms.
Conceptual Art is one of them.
Today, it is truly a challenge to define what Art is, since in the modern era every person's perspective is respected, well, somewhat mostly..

Protagoras stated, "man is the measure of all things."
Definition of "Art" may be different for everyone.

To me personally, I believe that word "Art" points to all spectrum of creative processes or acts.

Ideas, are the source of all existing things that are man-made.
Everything around us, I mean everything from chair, train, shirt, donuts, power plants, to computer chips, and everything man-made, including factory machine made, since machines were made by us, began from an idea in someones head/mind.

In this world, there are two types of things, artificial things, and natural things.
natural things were here before the dawn of civilizations, such as us humans, trees, animals, insects, water, and such. Everything else, most things we see, or pretty much everything if you live in the city, are artificial.

We fall into an illusion that these things came into existence on their own sometimes, probably due to the existence of medias.
However, each single one of them, what you see around you started from an idea in someone's mind, then came into existence by Artist's/craftsman's hands, or the idea went to the conference room of some corporation and came out of factories.


Without ideas, there is absolutely nothing other than nature.
No iphone, no house, no shoes, no restaurant, no pavement, no buildings, no city, no stock market, no space stations, no government, no toilets, no McDonald's, no Starbucks, no Facebook, no Internet, and most importantly, no money, no economy. nothing.

Now where does ideas come from? I don't know.
What I know is that ideas derive from creativity.

Then,
Without creativity, there is nothing artificial.

From this perspective, I believe creativity is the highest form of intelligence.
Without creative act, there is no corporations, (the entity seems like the most important existence in modern world, at least from economical point of view), because they would have nothing to sell, no ideas to make commercials.
No fashions, no culinary arts, no cars, no music, no books, no nothing.

It is my firm belief that Artists are the most crucial existence of our civilizations.
That's why I have been capitalizing A in Art.

Without creative people = Artists, there is no business.
No patents, no inventions to sell on as seen on TV, no electricity no TV.

So why are these business people with suits running around like they own the world?
What have they come up with? really.

Man, oh, man, human, all too human.

It is interesting that Plato placed Artists at the bottom of hierarchy in his Ideal City.
He viewed artists as the ones who were disillusioned by images.
Matrix, Plato's cave, I get it.
But hey, if "Art" can = creativity, he may say the otherwise.

So I chose to be an Artist.
If you are gonna spend your life trying to climb a mountain, why not go for the tallest and the toughest?
It is a nature of things, when it is closer to the truth, the path is harder to walk on.



My brain is goo, can't write anymore. (2:27am)


definitely don't come back because Hogwarts goin' Yosemite.

fhasjdglk...zzz


love.

y


At one occasion, I had an opportunity to talk about this with someone who holds profound educational background. Although he was creating Art (I sincerely enjoy his creations, personally), he was hesitant to call himself an Artist.  I will call him Nartist, since he is an Artist in my eyes, but a big "No, I'm not sure about that" was written on his face. So, Nartist told me that

KEEP IT NATURAL pt. 2

by Yukito Yoneyama / 米山ゆきと


The orientation was going really well, and it was flying by.
They say that when you are having a good time, time flies.
Actually, even geniuses like Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking have mentioned about the flow of time being subjective.
If the time flows slower for the astronauts floating in space, I must have been really close to the Earth's core. I guess I penetrated the center of the Earth and ended up here without my knowledge.


I met some interesting people during the orientation.
The 26 of us from Japan became one big family, while going through this extraordinary experience together. At College of Notre Dam, they were also hosting other exchange student programs from all over the world. It was almost like Hogwarts, except we didn't have magical powers, just massive cultural confusions that turned supermarkets into amusement parks and newly-launched, soon-to-be cultural phenomena Starbucks into a romantic getaway (many of the participants became instant lovers, what happens in... you know the line.)


There were these two students from Thailand, Champ (I think it was his nickname, but you never know with us foreigners) and the other, I can't remember his name. I will call him Drama-shots.
They were inseparable like brothers.
Champ was kinda a fat kid, with a good, kind, and mischievous nature. He reminded me of the character "Chunk" from "The Goonies".

Drama-shots was styling mint from head-to-toe, and every time we hung out, he asked me to take pictures of him with disposal cameras he had in stock.
He posed so seriously and dramatic, I was a little uncomfortable while being his disposal photographer.

All of us Japanese students simply smiled, with their hands making "peace"signs whenever we were taking pictures of each other.  It can be a little strange (awfully strange to others) when everyone without exception is doing this in unison. Now I think about it, I wonder what Drama-shots was thinking.. "These weird Japanese people.. my shots are so much hotter.".. maybe. Because I took them.

The "peace sign in photographs" is definitely one of the strangest things about our culture. Everyone without fail, and I mean everyone, old, young, male, female, human and dogs (I lied, I hope) do this in social occasions (I bet 99% of the time, unless both of his/her hands are broken or something),
as if it is the most inhumane and evil deed to do the otherwise.
If you don't believe me, go ahead and google "Japanese peace sign in pictures".
(The verb "google", did it make it to the Webster dictionary yet?)
What I enjoy most is seeing some foreigners going happily along with it. Talk about international peer pressure.

The counter part of this in the US would be the drunken "YEAHH!!! HOOO!!!" screaming in unison in MTV Spring Break. I had to turn my TV off until music videos came back. Also, TV shots of NYC Bars during any big holidays. What I enjoyed most was that I went along with them when I found myself in these situations, and I felt great.

There is a saying in Japan, "Correct your conduct by observing that of others."

In Irish and English saying, "Learn wisdom by follies of others."


 
Drama-shots would pose under a street light on Notre Dam campus at night, looking away in melancholy.
After one of our shooting sessions, (about the 5th time),
I had to ask him, "what is up with your posing?" He said to me, "they are for my girlfriend waiting for me back in Thailand for the year to come."
Ok. I get it. Long distance relationship.. out of sight, out of mind.
I myself was in the midst of a possible long distance relationship, since I myself hooked up with one of the girls from our program. This whole thing really smelled like teen spirit. So I helped him without feeling uncomfortable for the rest of the orientation.
I even went out of my way to get really good shots of him so that his girlfriend wouldn't stray off while he is gone. (really none of my business, nosy me)
He was actually quite intelligent, and I enjoyed having conversations with him over our broken English, which was our only common language.

Champ became something of a teddy bear amongst us Japanese students. Well, 24 of us were girls so go figure. I can't remember too much about him except the time when the whole Hogwarts took a trip to Yosemite National Park toward the end of the 3-week-long orientation. But I will talk about that later I suppose.


As I am writing this blog, most of my memories are coming back in detail. It has been 15 years, and I never wrote about it, or reminisced. Feels like traveling through time and space.. Blogger is my spaceship. Cheese.

Towards the end of our orientation, one of the program advisers called me to see her.
During the orientation, many of the participants were yet to be assigned their destinations. It was a little nerve-wrecking not knowing where they might send you off for a year. The fear of unknown, the arch nemesis of human kind.

I felt like a pound puppy waiting for a nice family to rescue me out of this Cage of Notre Dam. Well, I really loved it there and was not thrilled with the idea of my one year being in some red-neck central or whatever elsewhere. (don't get me wrong now I like red-necks, they are honest, straight forward, and they like to drink).

Student by student, day by day, they would call one of us up as soon as a volunteer host family had selected a participant. They would then give her/him an address of destination.

So it was now my turn. My heart raced and my hair stood up (I had spiked hair pasted with half-tube of hair gel that had the texture of thick glue).
As I walked into the adviser's office, I was handed a piece of paper.
It read,

"xxx Colorado Ave
Caldwell, ID xxxxx"

She said to me "good luck!" and kicked me out of her office.
So I called my parents in Japan to share this exciting news.
I told my mother, who answered the phone, "They gave me the address!"
She said to me, "that's great! where are you going to spend the year?"

Y:  "I'm going to Colorado!"
M: "Awesome, where is Colorado?"
Y:  "Somewhere in the USA!"
M: "Well, congratulations, and good luck on your journey!"
Y:  "Thanks!" click.

Next morning, while eating breakfast at one of the cafeterias on campus, I shared my news with the others. One of them said, "Colorado is a nice place. you will like it there."
I was starting to get excited.
Later on that day, my adviser caught me off guard, popping out like that sneaky guy from
"Mr. Deeds" saying, "I heard what you have been telling your friends, but you are not going to Colorado, you must have misread the address." with a smirk on her face. I asked her, "where am I going then? the address said Colorado."

A:  "You are going to Idaho."
Y:  "Idaho? where is Idaho?"
A:  "It's where they grow lots of potatoes, and they have cowboys there."
Y:  "Potatoes.. so I am not going to Colorado."
A:  "No."

So I called my parents again to correct the misinformation I had provided the night before. I thought to myself, "they might already be celebrating on my behalf, everyone in the family and all my friends wishing me luck to get to Colorado in safety."
My mother answered the phone again.
I went straight to the point.

Y:   "I am not going to Colorado."
M:  "? Oh, where are you going then?"
Y:   "Idaho."
M:  "Where is Idaho? (she had no clue on geography of this country.)
Y:   "It's where they grow lots of potatoes and cowboys."
M:  "That's great! good luck on your journey!"
Y:   "Thanks!" click.


... to be continued.


Thanks for reading.
In case you came back, you might wanna check with your doctor.
Your cerebellum had just turned into goo.


Love,

Y

KEEP IT NATURAL

by  Yukito Yoneyama ／米山ゆきと



I am a Japanese native, living in Eastern Long Island, New York.

It has been a quite a journey, since I have set my foot on the US soil 15 years ago.
I was blessed with an opportunity to become a cultural exchange student
when I was a senior in high school.


The exchange student program I chose was volunteer-based.
It was fairly inexpensive compared to other programs,
however, there was a little catch. I had no choice regarding my destination.

Since it was a volunteer-based program, all the living expenses during my stay was
paid by the family who selected me to spend an entire year with them.

What were they thinking, I don't know,
but the way it worked was that the family who are interested in having an exchange student
would register with the program, and they can select one student from the program database.



Prior to the selection process, all participating exchange students spend 3 weeks
in a college in San Francisco (College of Notre Dam),
going through orientations to prepare for the massive culture shock.


Our program had 26 students, of which 24 were females.
I volunteered to be a leader of the program during the orientation,
which was unlike myself, since I disliked having responsibilities.

But hey, 24 girls and 2 dudes.. I had to take a leading role.
Well, actually it was sorta determined by cultural gender roles and the age hierarchy.
I was the oldest male in the program, so there I went.


The other dude turned out to be really cool,
and we ended up becoming very good friends.
Our friendship continues on to this day.
We, along with 24 girls had a great time in San Francisco.

I can still clearly remember how everything was completely new and foreign (literally).
I mean San Francisco was a beautiful city.

Pastel colored homes, cool ocean breeze, Fisherman's Wharf, trollies,
Golden Gate Bridge, fogs, and the famous California sunshine.



It is funny how things like supermarkets can be so foreign
(we have super markets in Japan, too, but all things in them were totally unseen).

I remember the scent of Safeway (west-coast based supermarkets) when I first walked in.
To be honest, it smelled weird.

IT DID NOT smell like supermarkets I was used to going in Japan.
I couldn't identify the scents from my memory database.

And it was huge! I could not believe the size of it.
I laughed out loud thinking,

"oh yeah, the famous American "bigger the better" concept."

 I say "I laughed", because "bigger the better" is considered
kind of unintelligent from Japanese perspective
(no offense to my fellow American friends, keep it open-minded).

Some of you may already know, but we believe in "less is more".




It was my first week in any foreign country, and prior to this experience,
I have never even been on an airplane.


Cultural difference can be so extreme sometimes, it blows my mind. 

I thought to myself recently after being here over a decade,

"the way we view things can actually be from completely opposite spectrum
when you travel to the opposite side of the planet."



Getting back to the story, I really enjoyed Safeway.
(how strange is that, a supermarket entertainment)

It was in walking distance from the College of Notre Dam,
where our program was staying.


When I was leaving with my bud Toshi (the other dude),
we saw a few vending machines outside the front door.

At the orientation, we were told that we can't buy beer, since we weren't of legal age.
It struck me like a thunder, in exaggeration.

In Japan, we have vending machines for beer, and cigarettes.
It is one of those things Japan is well-known for, like electronics, Toyota, Walkman, Playstations, Geisha, Mt. Fuji, and vending machines for your vice.

Anyway, I wanted to drink beer, while hanging out with 25 fellow high-schoolers
in this American college away from parents and the wrath of Platonic cultural restrictions and all.

Cliche, whatever. I had to get everyone drunk, or what kind of leader would I be?



So when Toshi and I found the vending machines outside Safeway,
it was a heaven-sent miracle.

We rush to one of the machines like two moths flying toward a light.

One of the buttons read, "Root beer".
Of course I didn't understand what root beer were.

Some of you may think "come on that's stupid",
but if someone from this country went to Japan for the first time,
not knowing the language, culture, or customs, you won't believe what you would do in error.


For example, finding a strangely-shaped toilet (old school toilet in Japan is shaped like a slipper),
and not knowing what to do, or the world's most technologically advanced toilet that wash and dry and even massage your behind.
If you press a wrong button, it might send you to a parallel universe.





Toshi and I looked at each other and thought, "we are set for the night".

So we bought like 20 of them (maybe less/more I can't remember).

I remember people walking out of the store were looking at us,
but we thought that they were just being curious because we are foreigners,
 I said to Toshi,

"These nosy Americans.."

and went on with my beer business.
 


 We walked back to campus in a hurry so that our hard-earned beers stay cold.

About half way, I opened one of them. I was thirsty.

As soon as I took a sip, I spit it out, shouting "WTF!!!???"
(in Japanese. but we don't have curse words, so something equivalent in emotional explosion).


It DID NOT taste like beer, of course.
It rather tasted like carbonated medicine.

The licorice flavor closely resembles the taste of general medications in Japan.
(This is why Dr. Pepper and Root Beer never made it to Japanese market, while Coca Cola and Fanta joined our list of drinks.)


We threw them all out in a trash.
Oh what a waste of youth.








...to be continued (it's 3am and I am tired.)






Thank you for reading, and don't come back again.
your brain will rot, if you read my blog.




Love,



Y