Freestyle II in Tokyo & Osaka
This is way due but here’s a bit of my experience at Ohno’s exhibition Freestyle II last year in Tokyo and this year in Osaka.
On the day of Tokyo’s exhibition online ticketing via Lawson website, I couldn’t even enter the site at all due to heavy traffic and all tickets for all allocated time slots were sold out in just a few hours. My Tokyo fanpal couldn’t get a ticket herself either, so while she was asking around for tickets she asked on my behalf as well, and she got both our tickets in 10 minutes since she first asked. Oh thank goodness. We had to enter on different days since the tickets she got were single tickets, but she got those tickets from her personal friends so we all hung out together on the day I entered the exhibition.
Really love those little flags.
My ticket with Nanana-kun LOL
Queuing area.
Staff shirt. There’s a small “staff” print at the lower corner of II.
Did some sketching of how his works were displayed while I was inside. I have yet to master the art of drawing into a notebook while standing.
I only bought the goods that I really wanted. I didn’t want the shopping bag initially but I needed something to carry the things I bought XD
I also met my friend from Shanghai, and she passed me the Shanghai exhibition goods which I’ve asked her to buy (I lost my photo^^; ) Anyway I got the seahorse shirt, figurines clear file, and the exhibition book which featured all the exhibitions with details including the names of each piece and their dimensions. I gave another set of this exact combination to my friend who got me the exhibition ticket.
We got the first print edition of the artwork photo book.
I actually thought I’d pass going to Osaka since I’ve already seen Tokyo’s exhibition, but when I heard that he has one new item to show I just had to go.
For Osaka, ticketing was through balloting. I was anxiously waiting for the email to arrive on the announcement day but my email never came (I later realized that I didn’t even submit my ballot registration properly). A Taiwanese fanpal though, hit for more tickets than she needed so I got 2 tickets from her for myself and an accompanying friend. We managed to meet and have dinner at the okonomiyaki shop where Arashi went during How’s It Going concert (will share more next time).
Ticket & queue area. No staff photo but they were wearing jumpers.
My friend who entered the exhibition with me went to Ohno Shrine in the morning while I went to Johnny’s shop, she helped me get baumkuchen (Yama combo!) and 5-daruma set. As for exhibition goods, I only got the black shirt (yes it’s similar to the Tokyo exhibition staff shirt minus the “staff” small print) and the new figurine. I also got personalized cola bottles with my name printed at the Coca Cola store near the exhibition area.
This time I didn’t do any sketching. There were more than one new exhibit and this was a great score for me. I felt really moved when I saw Ohno’s self portrait, very soft-toned and artistically painted in member colors, some people were actually crying in front of the large canvas (about the same size of the pug painting) I kid you not. I’ve walked around the exhibition randomly avoiding crowds, but I find myself walking back to the portrait repeatedly it’s like I’m naturally drawn to it. Being a painter myself, I am also very impressed with his approach in this self-portrait, I would like to try painting in this style one day. This self-portrait is painted based on an 2013 issue An An cover.
One of the objects modeled after Ohno’s own face had its left ear broken, it wasn’t like that when I saw it in Tokyo. The colourful winged-head figure with Ohno’s teeth which had been submerged in a water tank, it’s greyish white now. And there are mouldy stuff everywhere I just couldn’t help laughing. I am rather thrilled with the ink squid painting, which had been featured on the photo book but not shown at the Tokyo exhibition.
The pinky-print seahorse drawing from Shanghai exhibition was also shown. Many people didn’t know what it was and thought that those fingerprints were Arashi’s, or of those little children who exhibited their drawings together with Ohno’s sumo kid painting in Miyagi. These were actually the fingerprints of everyone who went to the Shanghai exhibition last year, each person could only press down once on the drawing. Chinese fans planned on weibo to work together to form words with their fingerprints, and they really did manage to make out “arigatou” “3104” “AMNOS” with everyone’s fingerprints. Ohno’s fingerprint was on the drawing too, but many fans had pressed their own prints right on top of his, and that spot is totally black LOL
I’m really glad I came. As much as I enjoyed Tokyo’s exhibition, I feel very blessed to be able to see more new exhibits than I’ve anticipated, and the slight changes in the previous exhibits makes this exhibition even more exciting as it has become a part of my own experience, it’s like I lived through history (of course I’m exaggerating XD).
With the ending of Osaka Freestyle II exhibition, I am particularly thankful to a certain Sakurai Sho who suggested to the jimusho to let Ohno have an exhibition in 2008, opening the door for us to get a glimpse into the mysterious world of Ohno Satoshi.