Nagoya Art

Garrison Spik kisses and tells about Nagoya's foreign artists' exhibition

As I sat talking with Andy Boone, a photographer who is helping coordinate the Foreign Artists Exhibition '97 at the Nagoya International Center (NIC), I myself felt like a decollage artist stripping away layer after layer to reveal something of deepening interest to the observer.

A native of Illinois, Boone has been living in the Nagoya area for 15 years and seems to have woven himself tightly into the fabric of Chubu's international art scene, which culminates every autumn with the NIC exhibition.

"I've participated since the second [Foreign Artists Exhibition]," he said during a recent interview. This year as before, Boone is working closely with the event's co-sponsors, the NIC and the Central Japan International Society, both of which receive their funding from the city. Most of the planning and other preparatory work, he said, is done by members of the Division of Program Development on the fourth floor of the NIC, "They do all the work, and I basically provide suggestions on how the format should go and a little bit of the creative element, since I am also a participating artist."

Speaking about the evolution of the exhibition, Boone said, "We had our own ideas; we wanted it to be open and free, allowing anybody with any type of creative ability to show their work. And that included a wide variety of people, from professionals down to weekend dabblers."

Throughout its 12-year history, the exhibition has attracted a broad variety of entrants, though Boone said the number of full-time artists who participate has always been small. "Over the last five years, we've averaged between, say, 40 and 70 artists each year, and of those, literally a handful -- five or six at the most -- are full-time professionals. We have two or three people who are known only in Japan, only in the region, for their work. A few others sell considerably well inside and outside Japan."

Careful not to discount the input of the dabblers and other artists who don't necessarily make a living from their work, Boone went on to say that they are "on the whole very good. I mean, they're very serious."

Regardless of the status of those who display their work at the exhibit, the Foreign Artists Exhibition has generated the one thing that has gone hand-in-hand with art since the cave-dwelling days of Altamira: controversy.

"We faced restrictions and limits from the city and the NIC, which is a city organization," Boone said. "Content has been a problem. We've had a few artists who have been asked to remove their work. In one case, they did it graciously. Another time, the artist got upset and ended up removing all of his work and leaving in a huff."

But just what kind of material would the city deem improper? Gifu's sister city is Cincinnati, which left its mark on the art world when it forbade the exhibition of Maplethorpe's notorious homoerotic photography. Has some of this Midwestern conservatism rubbed off on Nagoya? Boone didn't seem to think so.

"Gratuitous sex [was a problem]," he said, "and we had some of the guests complain. Another time we had someone who had included a depiction of the Showa emperor, Hirohito, and the administration objected to that."

Despite such rumblings, the exhibit has grown each year and has filled a niche in the city's international community and the surrounding region. In a time when "internationalization" is a buzzword resounding in the corridors of city hall, the show has established itself as a staple event that reflects both the denotation and connotation of the word. And Boone is quick to point this out.

"In my personal opinion, this exhibit is probably one of the most international events in Central Japan. You have people from a large number of countries interacting and relating over a two-week period. It's not just some professionals or specialists over here for a seminar."

Indeed, a whole palate of artists mixes at the exhibition. Last year, about 18 different countries were represented, up from about only eight countries at the inaugural exhibit. Brazil, China and America were represented heavily, but pick a letter from the alphabet and you'll probably be able to match a country with it: Britain, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Spain, Tanzania.

"[The artists] come from different backgrounds; they come from different places, and for different reasons," Boone enthused. "Some are pure artists. For example, a good number of the Chinese artists actually came over to study commercial art. They're graphic illustrators, art directors, and they have very high-quality work."

Another facet of the exhibition's international character is language. When contingents of expats gather, English, the so-called universal language, is usually used. Not so here. "One of the things I think shows the international nature [of the exhibit] is that you'll get four, five or six people in a group, all from different countries, and their common language is Japanese, not English," Boone said. "There are people who are here from different countries and cultures, but making a living being active here, so they also speak Japanese. It shows how truly international -- sincerely international -- this event is. It's not just some showpiece."

As it turns out, though, the Foreign Artists Exhibition might take its place in Nagoya's history as just that: a token, albeit long-lived, showpiece. Amazingly, while the local government is taking great pains to tout its campaign to internationalize the Chubu region and has dubbed Nagoya "Design City," its members may very well axe its most international event. Art may be timeless, but the exhibition might not. With a tinge of frustration in his voice, Boone said, "This may be the last year."

"We've been told we won't get a budget [for the exhibition] next year," Boone said. "The budget for the exhibition comes out the CJIS' budget and the NIC's budget, and we have been told that next year there will be no money. But after that happened, we were told to apply for a budget."

This mind-boggling bureaucratic boner might epitomize the short-sighted narrow-mindedness of the local government, but of course they have given a reason. "I've heard that they want to do something different," Boone said with a touch of incredulity. "I think it will be a big loss if [the exhibition is dropped], because it is one of the more truly or purely international events that happens here. It now has a fairly long tradition, and people look forward to it. For a good number of the artists, it's their only chance during the year to exhibit, because other places can be very expensive, Y15,000 to Y40,000 a day for the exhibition space."

But Boone said it would be unwise to discount the resolve of the exhibit's organizers and participants. Not going into too much detail, he said, "We're exploring other avenues for what we can do next year. We think we've established a tradition, and we'd like to continue that tradition."

You can, of course, still enjoy the exhibit this year. It runs from November 4 to 16 on the fourth floor of the Nagoya International (Kokusai)Center, located on the Sakura-dori line, Kokusai Center station. Admission is free.