TAKUJI KOGO on Thu, 2 Sep 1999 02:16:43 +0200 (CEST)


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<nettime> Takuji Kogo/John Miller correspondence update


update
*
John-san  to John Miller and the third person
Takuji Kogo
http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/i/ga2750/john/01.htm

And
John Miller's new game show paintings will update soon


 Dear John-san


These paintings are a link to your work titled "John-san". Images from
famou s japanese animation situation comedy called Sazae-san. I removed
copyrighted characters like your game show paintings. The program is
sometime scared me.  Because the program is broadcasting with same
characters and same kind of stories with same voices since my childhood
every sunday night 6:30. It r eminds japanese people to idea of "old good
family".  Their house remind us some old style in the same days of
Yasujiro Ozu films .  He often use marriage story like Hollywood screwball
comedy. 

Screwball comedy also was made by Fake americans/ European expatriates in
'3 0s to '40s.  Old hollywood pictures couldn't make a sex scene, but they
were using this c ensorship into high quality skill for storytelling in
the films. So sometime, character's relationship were like a sexual orgy
more than now TV sitcom , b ut without emotional conflict.  Warhol didn't
made a portrait for Cary Grant.  Because these kind of stars are already
some logotype like Hitler. So his wa y can't work without gossip
magazines. 


 Last year I saw an interesting result for this genre in Straub/Huillet
film titled "Von heute auf morgen".  This is made from Arnold Schonberg's
opera. A story about a silly marital di spute at one night and it was
emphasized by singing with its camera work like Robert Bresson. It was
easy to remind us Hollywood way and Brecht's way in the same time.  Anyway
Ozu never make a wedding scene not like Ernst Lubitch . Rather he lik ed a
scene for funerals. And sometime he took a scene for empty room. I think
it already show death of this genre and a critic for another idea of time
on br oadcasting. 


Originally Machiko Hasegawa who is author of this comics were sometime
ironi cal more than now TV version same as american comic Blondie . She
was working for newspaper too. And funny thing , her another famous and
more iro nical comic titled ' Ijiwaru Ba-san ' ( means spiteful hag)  in
TV version was performed by ex Governor of Tokyo Yukio Aoshima. Of course
the program is al ready over long ago. Now Governor of Tokyo Shintaro
Ishihara is a newspaper novelist and a famous japanese movie star's elder
brother.  But this long life program is living as unconscious politics on
TV with this looping endless time still now. 


And also I find their set is look-alike "Nihonga" (means japanese painting
). The genre was made as an Japanese art by Ernest F. Fenollosa and his
pupil Tenshin Okakura. Before the modernization we don't have an idea of
art like western culture.  Some modernist like him find modernism in our
genre pictures or decorations and sometime Buddhist monk's paintings. 

Now he's famous as a contributor for japanese art collection at Boston
museum.  Same as Bali's dance music, it was cut to suits form of records
by English m en, Japanese culture was cut as collection to suit the media,
Museum. 


Okakura made many shows at NY since before the World War II as a curator. 
E uropean culture find their paintings japanese impressionism or fake
Matisse.  One of his famous book " The Ideals of the East with Special
Reference to th e Art of Japan" published at London includes an essay "
The Awakening of the East".  It was a healthy nationalism as Eastern Art
history against Western Art history , even now sometime people said it
gave an idea to the then fasc ism. 

The history made to suits western idea of Art with an American. He noted ,
i n Japan, Many Eastern culture is linving as their excellent results for
jap anese culture's anti-historycal character. I don't think so, but we
can see histor y as an idea of time is one of modernism or post modernism
including nationa lism in it too. Now this genre is a living dead as a
weird traditionalism. 


Anyway, as you're trying, the problem is how it to living and hiding with
wh at idea.  I'd like to put them with alarm on another idea of
time/history (Wake up for ever...) called internet with this letter.  And
of course I made this letter to pretend some snob with each domestic man y
names like some information for new fund. 

best regards

Takuji KOGO



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