“BETWEEN THE DARK AND THE DAYLIGHT

WHEN THE NIGHT IS BEGINNING TO LOWER

COMES A PAUSE IN THE DAY’S OCCUPATIONS

THAT IS KNOWN AS

THE CHILDREN’S HOUR”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882, American Poet and Educator

There are times, within the work of an artist, that there seems a stillness – a quiet; or so it seems. Like the pause occurring between the dark and the daylight, just prior to a magnitude of activity, born at the break of a new day.

Since February 2020 and through most of 2022, collectively, artists and people from every walk of life have experienced overwhelming shock, fear, grief – and anger that followed, due to the now infamous coronavirus. Our world spun so quickly that in retrospect, I think we watched what we could no longer comprehend; as if in a rearview mirror we rode a merry-go-round of emotion through a confused world of funerals, closures of most everything that is dear and important to us, and empty grocery shelves as well; our world slowed to a halt with shutdowns, government mandates and the deafening Covid 19 chatter that became more nonsensical by the day. There was a longing in our hearts – a pensive melancholy in our spirits. Artists, alongside people from every walk of life, were locked in their homes – and locked out of each others lives. Yes. There was a pause, between that dark and the daylight, as a masked populous tried to adjust to being told when they could shop, and when they could not. Many months were spent in depressive texting through a mundane, humdrum existence as many of the jobless, although not all, parked themselves in front of their TV sets, wrapped in overwhelming hopelessness. 

The good news, which I ascertained while fulfilling my obligations to Mr. Katsu Shimmin, Chairman of the 22nd Japan International Art Exchange, is this: the artists in this show, were different. They did not take a hiatus. They did not stop working. In fact, they worked longer; in an overwhelmingly fundamental way – down to the bone; in their studios (if they could still afford the rent), at their kitchen tables, and in their yards. When those options were unavailable – they found another. They had to. Making art was indeed the alternative; and they found it, during that pause,“between the dark and the daylight”, where they could work at play, as children once again. This exhibition attests to their accomplishment during that pause.

Thank you foremost to Mr. Katsu Shimmin, who I met during my second residency in Thailand (2016), and with whom I have worked in a curatorial/advisory capacity since 2019: let me extend my deepest gratitude for your support and kindness; all the artists in the show are appreciative with me for the inimitable effort that you have demonstrated on our behalf. 

To the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum: thank you for your hospitality in providing an open door to the 22nd Japan Exchange in this most historic venue: Japan’s first public art museum. We are happy to be a recipient of your renown generosity in public programming.

 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Julienne Johnson, USA 

Art Advisor / Curator of “The USA Exhibition” June 2023