Kyushu-Ha moves forward to bring Kyushu art to the World
Takami Sakurai
The only way to be called a full-fledged artist in Japan is to have solo exhibitions atgalleries in Tokyo and the south, or to win consecutive prizes at the Mainichi InternationalExhibition and be selected as a representative of the Biennale. Of course, there are somefine artists who paint alone in the countryside, but unfortunately, I do not know of any such
artists who have been selected for the Biennale nor have the potential to be selected.
Indeed, there are people like Hanjiro Sakamoto who work in the countryside, but he is noexception. After all, he has been to Paris and worked in Tokyo. The same is true of Hamada.
To put it simply, there are about 50 galleries in the U.S. that are on the same level as theSouth and Tokyo galleries. It is easy to find one if you have the strength to go around fifty
places.
In Japan, two galleries would not have the opportunity, nor the strength or anything like that.
Some people come to the gallery with one or two prizes from competitions, but it is naturalthat we don't recognize them. Therefore, it is only natural that the artists living in Tokyo would
have an advantage over those who don’t live there, as they are more likely to be seen by thepublic, regardless of winning a prize or two. The only way to achieve this is to have a solo
exhibition. There are only two places to do so: Tokyo Gallery and Minami Gallery.
If you are confident that you can get to these two galleries, there is no need to go all the way
to the United States. Because that does not mean that this is the essence or the only way tobecome a true artist. My only hope is that it will turn out that way. So, what is an artist? The
answer is difficult. But it is to live one's own emotions to the fullest.
Various results may be reproduction, symbolism, techniques as a means of expression, andeven a sleazy attitude towards life.
In other words, it seems that the means of society have only the most mundane goal of
creating individuality, but the methods to achieve this goal are many and varied, and I believethat the means themselves can and must be turned into the goal. Guevara's goal, for example,
is not guerrilla, but revolution and the realization of the most mundane thing, that the people
should live the life that the people deserve. But when it comes to guerrilla, I believe thatunless he becomes who he is and what he is all about, he cannot be compensated with death.
Let's start from the nearest at hand. Ichiro Haryu writes that we need to break the regional
complex and recommends guerrilla, but where should we take the guerrilla to, and for what
purpose? The happiest thing about being in San Francisco was not that I had a foreignwoman in my arms, nor that my paintings sold well, much less that I had an exhibition at anart gallery. The happiest aspect was the feeling of being part of a unique culture from thevery beginning, and to see how it would change. Of course, my standards as an artist wereraised in Kyushu, but it seemed strange to me that New York was to San Francisco as
Fukuoka is to Tokyo. For example, I had twelve or thirteen friends who were artists on Bushy
Street, where I first lived, and nine of them were from New York, and one of them had studiedwith Mr. Kawashima at the New York Art School. Is this kind of thing imaginable in Fukuoka?

It is certainly unthinkable today. There are many differences and difficulties, but now is thetime for us to work together toward this possibility. The first step is to go out to othercountries around the world and bring international activities back to Fukuoka, and then we
will be able to promote Fukuoka with confidence. It is as if Mexican paintings had taken thewhole world by storm. Hippies are the children of beatniks, but Ginsberg, Schneider, andothers often traveled the world. They spend a lot of time in San Francisco discussing theexperiences of countries all over the world and the question "What is true happiness ofhuman beings?" will be thoroughly discussed, including religion, art, politics, etc. Then,each person publishes his or her work in a coterie magazine. At Fukumori's request, I wrote
30 manuscript pages in a small coterie magazine called "Record and Art," introducing
poems by Beat poets and asking, "Is revolution possible in the U.S.? Although I am anartist, it was difficult for me to communicate with poets, and at times it was a hassle, but I
think it turned out to be a good thing. I would like to say that just because you are in
Fukuoka does not mean that you are promoting guerrilla activities in the region, just as it isnever a good thing to simply go abroad.
The starting point, or rather the keystone, of this culture is a management group called"Family Doc" that understands and cultivates the arts. What surprised me when I returned
to Japan this time was that Fukano and Taniguchi, two reporters of a type I had never seen
before, were planning, and executing a management project with an artist named Kikuhata.
Apart from the critique of the works in the exhibition, what amazed me about the Trend
Exhibition was the surprisingly large amount of blackened energy of local artists' desire that
exploded toward the exhibition. This is truly a unique feature of the exhibition, and if thisenergy is directed precisely in the right direction now and not misdirected, a unique culture
will emerge from a regional city for the first time in Japan, as mentioned above. Musiciansand painters will come from Tokyo as if they were in San Francisco, next door and in frontof us. I am aware that this is nothing more than an extremely optimistic view, but I believethat modern artists with handicap have no choice but to start from this area. Kyushu group

is now developing a proposal and implementation plan for this purpose. We intend to do so
one after another this year, but we need to strongly promote the Management Group thatwill serve as the foundation for such a plan. To achieve this, we must avoid the folly offighting over the means, and instead, we must define a clear goal. For example, the birth ofa San Francisco-like culture in Fukuoka! If we make efforts to achieve this vision with aclear goal, using a variety of methods and a variety of people, I am convinced that this is aguerrilla tactic, and that we will surely see the emergence of art, music, fine arts, a way oflife, or even customs, that will be popular throughout the world, starting in Japan.
Kyushu-Ha will thoroughly participate in this guerrilla war from the artist’s side. From thispoint of view, we would like each group, for example, Komatsu, Funaki, Kotani, and Ueda,
to grow larger and broaden their international perspective, and at the same time, we would
like Taniguchi and Yonekura, who are both artists and organizers, to join hands withTanaka, Fukano, and others form the management group. I would also like to propose,
based on my experience in San Francisco, the formation of a management group thatwould interact intensively with San Francisco to create a new style.