Something else for your diaries! Geneva based artist Rodrigo Pareja has written to tell me about his exhibition in Kyoto this Spring:
…it will take place at a venue called “Akateletecobe Sovesahva“, near Demachiyanagi station. I will have some drawings inspired from my visits to Japan last year about the Kodo, about shakuhachi and shamisen musicians, and the shichifukujin, amongst other themes. My girlfriend, Sayo Sakamaki, is helping to organise the show, and we are planning on having the band Hakka Happa play for the opening evening, the 27th of April, my girlfriend being a band member. The show will run from the 27th of April till the 2nd of May 2010 the 5th of May 2010 (Ed: exhibition just got extended).
Well that sounds very much like my cup of tea!
You can see some of Rodrigo’s line drawings here. These bright, joyful, playful images have a lyrical simplicity that seems to reach for the essence of things. Hardly surprising that he also illustrates haiku! Elsewhere he has written of his own art:
These images are recollections from a voyage of which I recall only this: colour and line. They are like the fragments of dreams which sometimes reach us in a conscious state. The drawings may spring from dreams themselves, from imagination or real events. Putting these recollections on paper allows me to remember further details of an endless puzzle which in turn reveals a language and a logic of my own. A personal mythology.

The venue Akateletecobe Sovesahva is located a minutes walk from Demachiyanagi station. Go east (in the direction of Hyakumanben on Higashioji) and you should find it on your right next to popular eatery Falafel Garden. Here is a map. To learn more about Rodrigo Pareja and view more of his art visit his website. This is the band from the opening night, Hakkahappa:
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