Oni Ten is an art event based on the Tom Thumb Gallery, the student-run gallery I started with Jimmy Kuehnle in college. (the name Oni Ten comes from the town I live in Onishi- or Ogre Stone, mixed with the Japanese word for an art exhibition “tenji”) Looking back to the Tom Thumb gallery, what started out as a small exhibition with a few friends slowly grew into a no holds barred community art extravaganza. It eventually took on a life of its own, growing into something bigger than the individuals that started it and became an annual art event for the university recognized on tourist pamphlets (now in its 11th year).

Oni Ten is my effort to bring this same kind of open-format exhibition to Japan. There are new difficulties in trying this kind of thing in a different culture. The ingrained in-group, out-group culture in Japan fails to facilitate the social framework that allows ideas to mix so easily in the west. This fragments the art community, with little overlap from one group to another. I don’t know of any artists that actively go out to galleries just to see what is going on. In fact, people actually express surprise if someone unknown shows up to an opening party. I’ve gone to a couple exhibitions where everything pretty much stopped when I walked in the room. All this works against the spirit of a Tom Thumb like gallery, a space that asks for artistic experimentation, extroverts, and is actively looking to put new ideas and people together. Yet, I think it’s possible and the rewards, if successful, could have a real impact on the art world.

Oni Ten is not meant to be a traditional exhibition space. Even if I wanted to put on a regular exhibition we’d never be able to compete with even the least influential galleries in Tokyo; we’re just to far away. My studio in the countryside has the advantage of being disconnected, so that the works we display don’t have to appeal to anyone outside ourselves. The participating artists don’t need to appeal to customers, to gallery owners or the restrictions of contest rules. We have the freedom and chance to work outside of our typical comfort zone, to experiment with unfamiliar media and not have to place so much emphasis on the outcome. I like to think of it as something like an art laboratory, mixing together as many elements as we can to see what might come out. People can figure out what to do with the results later. My intent in this approach is not necessarily to produce polished work, but to widen each individual artist’s visual vocabulary through experimentation and bouncing ideas off one another. Of course artists experiment in their own studios, but too often those works never fall under peer or public scrutiny. My hope is that in an Oni Ten-like setting our peers can critique and interact with the works in a neutral environment and that the group can make something larger than the sum of its parts.