paintings by Hiromi Tanaka
music by Tatsu Aoki
video by Junko Kajino & Ed M. Koziarski

Friday-Saturday, May 20-21, 6-10 p.m.
$10 minimum donation includes drinks and appetizers.

Sunday, May 22, 1-6 p.m.

Creative Lounge Chicago inspired by Toyota
1564 N. Damen Ave., 3rd floor

Artists from Japan and Chicago present an exhibition of painting, music and video responding to the March disasters and ongoing humanitarian crisis, in the Japan Tsunami Charity ART Show and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Benefit, Friday-Sunday, May 20-22 at Creative Lounge Chicago.

• Painter Hiromi Tanaka, the organizer of the Charity ART Show, exhibits new work inspired by Japanese decorative byobu screens and fusuma panels. A former fashion dealer originally from Tokushima, Japan, Tanaka studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the School of the Art Institute. Her studio is in the Flat Iron Building just up Damen Avenue from the Creative Lounge in Wicker Park.
• Composer and jazz bassist Tatsu Aoki, who incorporates traditional Japanese instruments in his work, will perform improvised sets Friday at 9 p.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m. The son of a Tokyo geisha, Aoki was active in that city’s underground music scene before studying film at the School of the Art Institute, where he now teaches. He is a founder of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival and leads several combos including the Miyumi Project Big Band. http://tatsuaoki.com
• Filmmakers Junko Kajino and Ed M. Koziarski present a video introduction to their in-progress documentary Uncanny Terrain, about organic farmers outside the nuclear evacuation zone working to recover their land from the threat of radioactive contamination. Kajino and Koziarski leave May 23 for Japan, where they’ll spend the summer documenting the farmers from planting through harvest. Kajino grew up on a cattle farm in Nagano, Japan. http://uncannyterrain.com

Kakejiku (hanging scroll)

“A kakemono (掛物?, “hanging”), more commonly referred to as a kakejiku (掛軸?, “hung scroll”), is a Japanese scroll painting or calligraphy mounted usually with silk fabric edges on a flexible backing, so that it can be rolled for storage.”

SO 18×80 mixed media on panels 2010	SEI 18×80 mixed media on panels 2010	DOU 18×80 mixed media on panels 2010	TEN 18×80 mixed media on panels 2010	WA 18×80 mixed media on panels 2010

SO – something from which anything arises or is derived; source; fountainhead: to follow a stream to its origin.

SEI – stands for purity. Crawling into the tea room, one is to leave behind all thoughts and worries of daily life. The tea room or Chashitsu is a different world where one can re-vitalize, slow down, and enjoy the presence of friends. The gesture of purity is enhanced by the ritual cleaning of the Chawan, Natsume, Chashaku, and Kensui lit by the host. The real grand master of tea does not perform the Japanese tea ceremony from memory but from a pure heart.

DOU – the suggestion of motion in a work of art, either by represented gesture in figurative painting or sculpture or by the relationship of structural elements in a design or composition.

TEN – stands for change. An event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another.

WA – stands for harmony. As there is harmony in nature, the Teishu will try to bring this quality into the tea room and the garden around the tea house. The utensils used during the tea ceremony are in harmony with each other, so the theme is the same as well as the colors. The tea garden should be an extension of the natural flora surrounding it.

One of the featured Chicago Artists Month events was Hiromi Tanaka showing alongside Artists Baltazar Castillo and it took place at the Creative Lounge Chicago on Saturday October 4th. The event coincided with the One Year anniversary of one of the galleries -Chicago, Bilbao, Bangkok and Bucharest- sponsored by Toyota.

There was food and music and the artwork specially created for the show by Baltazar Castillo and Hiromi Tanaka who had a kakejiku performance to replace the old ones. The Show enjoyed other live performances as well in the following week with a Japanese traditional drummer and further Kakejiku performances by Hiromi Tanaka.

Here a couple pictures from the show:

OCT. 1st Friday Opening Party 6pm – 11pm

OCT. 10th Sunday Closing Party 12pm – 4pm

At the creative lounge, inspired by Toyota

HIROMI TANAKA and Baltazar Castillo are featured artists in the Chicago Artists Month for 2010, showing the selected works at the “creative lounge Chicago, inspired by Toyota” gallery located at 1564 N. Damen Suite 301 in Wicker Park.

Write it down now!!!!