Redemption

Kawabata Makoto, Acid Mothers Temple
Oil on canvas, 8 x 8 inches, 2017

After the frustrating painting I wrote about this morning, it was due time for some redemption. All the frustration of one came to the surface of another. The painting of Kawabata Makoto took about five minutes to complete. Five minutes of smearing around the few wet globs of paint left on a palette that had been in use for about two months. I had promised a painting of Kawabata Makoto, the main man in the Japanese acid-punk band Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., as part of a Japanese avant-garde trilogy. The avant-garde in general is not known for its political correctness and in the case of the Japanese, this results in some old-fashioned misogyny. Despite the fact that some Japanese women contribute to the scene (i.e. Melt Banana), it is not a welcome place for them. Women in Japanese society, especially young ones, are the biggest marginalized group. Why am I bringing this up you may ask, well the records of Acid Mothers Temple, an all male group, are frequently adorned by exotic and nude females. I recently bought their album In Search of the Lost Divine Arc from 2013 (which happens to be an exception to the nudes on the cover—it's a boring cover mind you) for the allusions to some great rock classics. Born Free Stone Free being one of those, a lengthy jam with hints of Jimi Hendrix.