growing kinds

the world is going upside down.
my world.

the earthquake hit japan. everything is on the shaky grounds. i cannot do anything. i'm so far away.

i needed to write something.
i needed my brain to think about something else.
i needed to believe that the world still makes it thru.

last couple of years, i enjoyed having a vegie garden. it was great to witness that plants to sprout, grow, and have harvest. when i was down and sad and lonely, it always helped me to have the garden.

i had a lot of vegie seeds in one of my drawer. i probably will never grow anything in marfa.
so they needs somebody else to plant them and let them prove that they still can do it.

most of them are japanese kind, so i just gave all of them to toshi, another japanese who lives in town. he is also great in garden. i'm sure all the marfans will enjoy these this summer in his restaurant.

marfa, please think of me when you see them on your plate at the cochineal.

softly.

i tossed so many things this past summer.

after my father passed away, i moved back to my mother's house in tokyo for 6 months. i had not lived in my bedroom at the house for 10 years, although i was occasionally visiting. when i started to "live" in the small room again last summer, it felt awful. i felt choked up and suppressed by things.

the clear loss in the house, the father's absence, prompted my urge to change something in my room, which was full of forgotten belongings from the past.

i cannot even remember everything i let go last summer.
old paintings from college, many books that were left unread, vintage toys, etc, etc...

amongst this toss-it commotion, this fabric was the one that i thought carefully of the place it should end up.

when i was in high school, i oftentimes sewed clothing items. when i started to do so, my mother gave this to me. she bought this when my sister and i were still little children, planning to saw something for us. but she never did.

10 years passed, and she gave this to me.

...i loved this fabric.
i loved it too much and couldn't cut into it.
and i didn't saw anything out of it.

another 20 years later, i dug this out from my bedroom in my mother's house.

i sent this from japan to the u.s., to lorna, my friend designer.
she would revive this fabric into the best.

abstract christmas

oops. i cannot believe that i haven't posted this yet!
well, i was lazy for a while.

anyhow.

these came from my friend artist, monica.
they are german cloth lines.

when monica came to marfa, she brought them with her to make art from them, but she didn't. so she hanged them loose on the wall, tucked with pins, and made a abstract line sculptures on wall; they were dramatic and beautiful.

she gave them to me when she was heading back home, and i had them in my studio wall for a while like this image. i didn't drape them as monica did; i rather wanted them to "behave" in my environment. and i loved how they became tinier random wall pieces.

i gave them as a birthday present for my friend whitney, this past summer. thought she could use it at her house. now she moved, and i don't even know if she has a place to put up cloth lines anymore. if not, i wish she would use them to make random chrismas ornament or something. that's how monica was using them, anyways.

protectors

lizard.
i love them.

they are such odd but beautiful creature. the eyes, the move, the texture of its body.

we call them "yamori" in japanese.
the pronunciation of "yamori" could be interpreted as "house protector, somebody who protects the home," and that's what we call them.

they protect home.
from whatever bad, sad, or negative.

so, i gave these to jd, who was going through some renovation of her house. whoever having any hard time with the house needs to have extra yamoris.

good luck for her home.

fighters

a mexican artist gave me a packet of goodies.

a cd of his music (he was a performance/ sound artist), a toy with a bell to make noise, a rubber made horse, and this.

two mexican wrestlers. not tackling, not fighting, but being bound together with the yellow cape.

they are fighters, but they are not fighting with each other. they face to the opposite direction when they stand since how they are connected determines which way they face.
it makes me think that they fight to protect something between their backs.

i liked the absurdity of this object.

one of my interns was having a birthday, so this became a b-day gift to her. thought to give her something from mexico, and this one turned out to be the one.

the sound of living

i so loved this kettle. the chantal's harmonica whistle kettle.

it whistles so great. i loved it too much, so this one is actually the 3rd chantal kettle that i owned.
because.

i kept of burning them.

though it whistles so wonderfully, i couldn't take a good care, oftentimes didn't notice that all the water evaporated, and kept on ruining them. and, this is the 3rd. i kept on buying the exactly same kettle since i love it so much.

however, 3 is the number for closing; the japanese say. "even buddha accepts the same mistakes up to only 3 times."

so when i burned this 3rd harmonica kettle, i knew that was it.
i don't deserve such a beautiful sound.
i have to bend and get a electric kettle (sadly).

and i did.

so, i dropped it off at the marfa thrift. its bottom has been melted and deformed, but it still works and even still whistles.

chaotic

lines lines lines.

i don't even know where these came from and/or what these are for. i'm confused.

the confusion resembles the one in my head.

i am sure they had specific functions; sorry, i don't remember. you guys were never that special in my life, obviously.

these are all at the thrift store in alpine, for anybody who needs these.