The Ability to Make It Work

Masuda

I made my debut as an artist last year in New York. It was hard for me to get people to recognize my art in Japan, so I decided to expand overseas. I looked into what would be considered a major league art scene in the world, and that’s when New York came to mind. That’s when I went to New York to talk to the Chelsea galleries about my work.

Itoi

Ah.

Masuda

But I’m not known at all in America, so no one would give me the time of day. But there was a small gallery located on the third floor of a commercial building who said my work was interesting and offered to host it. So thanks to that gallery, I was able to put on a solo exhibition with the theme, “What’s Kawaii?” Since that was in the very beginning of my debut, I had to cover the shipping costs and everything out of pocket. It was in the middle of winter with freezing temperatures outside, in a place that couldn’t fit more than five people.

Itoi

Uh-huh.

Masuda

On opening day, I had a thousand people show up.

Itoi

Wow! That’s funny.

PHOTO: GION
Photo of Masuda’s “Colorful Rebellion” -Seventh nightmare- exhibition.
Photo: GION

Masuda

I genuinely had no money left, so I could only market through Facebook. But as the show’s date approached, fans began interacting on the Facebook page. Once the show opened, there was an enormous line of about 1000 people outside from first thing in the morning. Since I had fans of mine coming to the show, I assumed I would see people dressed in colorful clothing. But in reality, it was almost all artists with an entirely different appearance. When I asked what brought them to my show, they mentioned they were curious to see if my work was the source of inspiration for hit artists like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.

Itoi

Oh, interesting.

Masuda

So they were all lined up for something that they essentially thought, “I have no idea what this Japanese guy brought over, but maybe there’s a chance it’s this.” People overcame that language barrier and really understood my aesthetic. That’s what made me feel truly happy that I’d aimed straight for major league caliber.

Itoi

For sure.

Masuda

And America is really interesting how it works. Just like that, I had a museum in Miami, Florida contact me and ask to host my work. It sounds like it’s incredibly rare for someone’s debut work to go on tour, but by the end of my trip, I was going to Milano, Italy. It’s only now that I’m returning to Japan to exhibit here.

Itoi

Wow.

Masuda

But my very first gallery was seriously tiny. It was like some kind of storage room at the end of the hallway.

Itoi

I can see it’s your combination of luck and sharp intuition that allowed you to reach a point where you immediately went on tour.

Masuda

I wasn’t actually aiming for that, though. But when I first went to New York, I’d at least hired a specialist in art management. The first thing they asked me was which pieces I’d like to sell. That was the very first time I realized I was supposed to be making things that sell. They also got mad at me for not organizing things in neat shapes like rectangles or circles, or not hanging them on a plain white wall. But I knew I wouldn’t be attracted to such a boring exhibition.

Itoi

Boy, that sounds great.

Masuda

I hate when my work is predictable. I wanted to surprise people, so all I’d done was bring things that would catch people off guard.

Itoi

That’s interesting. So if you were to try something really vague like see how much you could succeed in a place like New York, you wouldn’t have landed a tour. And if you’d sold all your work, that would have stopped you from going on tour anyway.

Masuda

I really think it was all about building a stage.

Itoi

That’s true. You are a stage carpenter.

Masuda

Yes, that’s the vibe I go for.

Itoi

If you were to try and make it in that line of work, I’m sure it’d also go quite well.

Masuda

That’d be nice, but I’m still paying for this current project, and I’m still at that point where my savings account is empty at all times. So I’m currently pouring all the money I make in Japan into my other projects.

Itoi

Ah.

Masuda

But people overseas have an entirely different view on art. When seeing a Broadway show in New York, Japanese visitors pick their seats closest to the back to keep costs down, but everyone else picks the more expensive seats. The price is totally different, too. Shows in Japan cost a little over a hundred US dollars at their most expensive seats, but shows overseas, like Cirque du Soleil for example, have seats that cost five hundred dollars a pop.

Itoi

That’s very true.

Masuda

Keep in mind that everything from Cirque du Soleil to pole-dancing is an import in Japan. I, on the other hand, am trying to export something from Japan. I’m working with a lot of people to prepare all the contents of my work to localize them for export.

Itoi

I’ve gone to the Cirque du Soleil headquarters in Montreal once for a tour. I was able to meet the top two heads of the company, and got the same sense from them as I did Eikichi Yazawa’s success story–it’s fascinating.

Masuda

Wow. So they were like Yazawa out there, too.

Itoi

They really were. I feel like everyone who gains fame has an element of Yazawa to them. No one who just happens to be popular lacks that.

Masuda

That’s true. (laughs)

Itoi

Not to change the subject, but would you like to put on a show at our gallery? It’s called TOBICHI.

Masuda

Oh absolutely. I would love to!

Itoi

It’s tiny enough to rival that of your previous storage closet gallery, though.

Masuda

I actually don’t care at all about how big a place is. The only thing that matters to me is whether I want to do it, so I’ll just throw things into my schedule if I do. I cause a lot of problems for my manager in that way.

Itoi

(To the manager) Sorry about that!

Manager

Not at all, I’d love it as well. I’m very happy about it.

Itoi

I appreciate that. I don’t know if it would be a 6%DOKIDOKI thing, or a Kawaii Monster Cafe thing, or just a Sebastian Masuda personal thing. And it doesn’t matter whether it makes any money. We just want to make people happy, so if we feel glad that we’ve done something, that’s enough for us.

Masuda

That’s wonderful.

Itoi

Great. So let’s talk about the gallery next time.

Masuda

I look forward to it.

2016-12-06-Tue

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