I went in DUMBO, Brooklyn for the first time, to accomplish my internship obligation. At 12nn I arrived at reBar restaurant for the first artist I would interview (in an ambush way) Masahiro Ito. Upon entering the restaurant I immediately felt some sort of isolation, the resto-bar was almost empty and few people kept on walking this and that way. Walking up a slightly steep stairs, I noticed paintings on the wall of the bar, they were pastel-paintings of Native Americans, this I know: the exhibition must really focus on them, the paintings however are all of the people, not so much about wolves and the like, that I was expecting because of course the title seem so direct.
I asked a woman at the reception table about where the exhibition "The Eye of The Wolf" (I still really don't have an idea why it's entitled that way) is going to be held. She looked like she knows the event, of course I would think that because she's at a reception table at the place of the exhibition. She told me just to get a pamphlet over a table beside me because she has no idea about what I asked, wonder why? She's a receptionist for the resto, not for the exhibition (embarassing). The moment it dawned upon me that the exhibition was going to be held on a restaurant and the receptionist didn't have an idea about it, I knew, it was going to be a little gathering of art fans and enthusiasts and also that Masahiro didn't want much publicity about it.
I was walking the hallway of the bar and I continue to gaze upon the paintings on the wall, Native Americans, Spirit stuffs, a girl like Pocahontas crying with the world on her palms, profile of a tribe chief and I could almost see myself on a frame on the wall with a look of bewilderness. I really had no idea what I was looking at (poor me). And I was like "how could I write about something I had little and almost no idea about?" and I continued walking.
"Oooh! Dioramas" I said, seeing little figures of people on streets (ghetto style) on a little installation beside another staircase. The installation was small, but you could see that the space was used economically. No space was left untouched by art. Even on the walls of the installation, you could see 3dimensional dragons that seemed to pop-out of the wall with cotton-made fire breaths coming out of its mouth.
The door of the installation was locked, I thought no one was allowed inside, because it was my first time seeing an installation of a diorama I had no idea that people could go inside the room, until a man, wearing shabby clothes, approached the door and tried to open it. "Can I go inside?" I asked "Sure, let me just get the key" he replied, but before the man left i asked again "Why are there no people here for the exhibition? the time's 12 right?" "Ooh, the opening is not 'til 6pm" he answered. That hit me hard! Unfortunately I misunderstood the post 12-6 to 12nn to 6pm! Foolish me! It was supposed to be 6pm to 12am! And I was like "Art never sleeps?" no wonder why there are few people, for a second there I thought art lost its connection to the people of NY. After that revelation that I took so seriously, I still can't forget that shabby-dressed man who will open the door of the installation for me. I thought art was something so suave, polished and smooth, with that, I had the thinking that people connected with art (like the shabby-dressed man, of course his connected) should also be suave, polished and smooth (I'm not snobbish, just see).
And so I waited 'til 6pm, people started arriving, I knew they're artists for a fact- they were mingling with each other talking about the materials used and other things connected with the arts. I wonder where Mr. Ito is? And there I saw him, with a funny magician's hat and a shiny vest! I approached Mr. Ito, introduced myself and talked for a bit.
Mr. Ito narrated to me that his father was a calligrapher and his mother was a kimono (traditional Japanese dress) maker. It's obvious that Mr. Ito though, an American citizen, was Japanese, and so I wondered how his art focused on Native Americans, that I didn't miss to ask. "I went to them, and I was like adopted by them" he said. So why "Eye of The Wolf"? I asked, "Because of my eyes, they say their like a wolf's eyes" Mr. Ito replied. Then I realized, it doesn't really matter much how connected the title is to your event. I knew then , that maybe the words "Eye of The Wolf" mean so much for Mr. Ito that he entitled his exhibition exactly with what the Natives called him. I continued asking Mr. Ito questions about his art, Mr. Ito I found out was very versatile. He could do sculptures, dioramas and paintings. So I asked what is his favorite among them, "Maybe the diorama" answered Mr. Ito, telling me that the diorama was dedicated for the American people. As I finished the interview with Mr. Ito, I wondered around to view all of his works. With me knowing the answer of Mr. Ito why Eye of The Wolf was the title, the paintings meant so much more to me than before. It's like finding a connection to something you've experienced before and living it all over again with art.
But the most interesting find for me of the day was when I saw again the shabby-dressed man before, now he was well-dressed and like ready to attend a social party. "Transition" I said to myself.
And as I walked out of the art exhibition, I brought with me a realization. The man, like art, can change from something odd to something full of meaning. As before I didn't knew what I was looking at but with a little talk with Mr. Ito, I also found a connection with the paintings. And for the man with the shabby-looking clothes before, I realized that the cliche "don't judge the book by it's cover" is still at work. The man was an organizer of the exhibit :-)
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