Keeping busy and not sleeping much.
It all reminds me of the time back in Asakusa, when I'd work through the night at home, making big drawings and talking with friends who were in Europe or US and in Japan.
One of those friends was Ayane.
In the studio:
Ayane was a masters student, who studied Art History and aspired to become a famous curator. She was also the only Japanese friend, who possessed the exact same sense of time as I did... or lacked it in the exact same way to be more precise :)
The 20-year-old me was constantly scolded for being late everywhere.
The only person I was in sync with was Ayane. We'd often go to all sorts of different exhibitions. We'd set the time and the meeting place and then we'd both be late by the exact same amount of time, usually arriving on the same train :)
A purikura from that time we went to see Modegliani's exhibit:
We haven't seen each other for a long time after I graduated and left in 2011. Until 2015.
In 2015 Ayane's dream came true, she has finally become a permanent curator in one of the contemporary art museums somewhere in Japan.
And me? In that same year, I got my wish and managed to go back to Tokyo to exhibit several works.
Ayane came by and bought this particular work for a ridiculous price and told me to get myself a very good pair of shoes.
Because good shoes take you good places.
It's been two years since we saw each other last.
And I had to fix the soles of my shoes a bit recently.
Who knows, maybe these shoes will take me to see Ayane again someday.