From her pocket, 2024
watercolor on paper
I was a typical art student who would say, “I make things because I can’t quite put them into words.” For a long time, I didn’t like reading descriptions or welcome boards when I visited museums and galleries.
It was only recently that I realized how much words have helped me throughout my pursuit of an artist’s life. I rely on many self-taught books to keep me going. Countless times, the words gave me the power to take one step forward when I was in self-doubt.
On a sunny July day, I visited one of my highly recommended galleries in Tokyo, Ginza Maison Hermès. The exhibition, “Ecology: Dialogue on Circulations,” became one of my most memorable visits to the gallery because of reading the brochure.
When the staff by the entrance handed me a brochure and an extra sheet of paper with only plain text, I took the time to read it while looking through the artworks.
As I stood in front of RAPHAËL ZARKA’s meticulously piled, poster-like work, I read the description and was excited to find out that I could take home a sheet.
His work reminded me of one of my favorite works by Félix González-Torres. The work “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) (1991) is a pile of candies, from which viewers are permitted to take a piece. It is such a sensual work, yet his trickster spirit impacted me deeply regarding what art can be. (RAPHAËL ZARKA’s work has a very different context from Félix González-Torres, of course.)
When I got home, I bragged about my art piece to my husband and proudly put it up in our rental apartment. I sat in front of the poster and proudly read through the brochure again.
Then I realized that in my excitement over RAPHAËL ZARKA’s work, I hadn’t read Kane Newby’s work descriptions carefully. I found the line that said, “There are small pocket works, tell the art attendee that you find one.” What? I had to go back.
On a second visit, I looked and looked but couldn’t find it. So I gave up and asked an art staff member where the work could be. She then pulled works from their pocket! I love how this work not only requires reading her description but also human interaction. It is so intimate and unexpected, making this work one of the most memorable.
People who read the fine print get rewarded, even in the art experience. I’ll keep this lesson in mind.
