"4th Asian Art Show"
Fukuoka Art Museum Sep 10 -Oct 16 1994

I'm already yellow. Why do I still paint myself yellow? Yellow is the color of the sun, the color of the moon, the color of the river that runs in the old country. It is the spirit of nobility, the glow of precious gold. The warmth and abundance of harvest, the power and faith in temples. In a different sense, yellow can also be the color of dangerous hazards, confidential secrets, pornography and vices. It is also -the color of the persecuted and the oppressed.

With yellow pigment on my skin I work with rice and chains. Rice is a major staple diet of the world and is sacred to many. Perhaps as sacred as art, culture and creativity. Which are essential elements of our human civilization. And within our humanity, we live in chains. We are chained together in societies for strength, comfort, security, direction and continuity. This chains which are also of bondage, constraints, rules and regulations.

Increasingly, social systems demand that art and culture must serve its needs. Various controls and restrictions are suppressing individualism. More and more human nature is evolving to serve society's needs and coercive reward and punishment are molding behavior.

The human heart is a caged wing yearning to fly and sing a song of freedom. We live in a tension between our desires and our fears. Fears of non-recognition and non-identity within a power system designed with rejection-and intolerance.

Individualism and self-hood becomes stagnant, stunted and fragmented, seeking reconcilement, completion and recovery. We who are "I's" that sleeps to dream our dreams of unfulfilled desires and incomplete aspirations. With these dreams comes the responsibility to realize them in reality. Should we have to face them with a readiness to be crucified for our dreams?

What is good? What is bad? This is not skin alone. Beneath the ocean of compassion, there is no skin. Only bones and blood.

The structure of this performance is similar to that of No.3 in this series. I am present in the gallery during the opening hours of the gallery for the 5 days duration of the performance as the "yellow man".

I concentrated on one chosen aspect of freedom on each day as I contemplated and worked with the rice and chains. Ending each day with a mandala / picture based on the chosen aspect of freedom, such as 1) democracy, 2) work, 3) culture, 4) peace, 5) food. I then proceeded to end the day's performance with a closing ritual. Interacting with some objects in my installation.

Among the installations are 9 oil paintings that are covered with black velvet cloth. This act of "censorship" alludes to the recent regulations on performance art in Singapore.

Red crosses were painted on these "black velvet" paintings and were whipped with ropes and chains during the first day's "democracy" performance. Also on the 5th day's "food" performance, 3 of these were anointed with my tears.

A wing made of wax sits uncomfortably inside a cage. I carried this during the "culture" performance walking around downtown Tenjin, visiting some art galleries and exhibitions of the "Museum City Tenjin" project. Ironically, the manager of Imuzu Shopping Center stopped me when I attempted a spontaneous action on Ozawa Tsuyoshi's (part of Museum City Tenjin project) large newspaper installation on the basement of Imuzu Building. I had permission from the artist, Ozawa but unfortunately not from the "management".

There were also nine panels with fragmented images of my body. These images were further disfigured and transformed with yellow paint on the "peace" performance.

The bed is a place for sleep and dreams. Our unfulfilled desires manifest in our dreams. If we want to see them become reality, we sometimes have to be prepared to be crucified for them. Hence on this "bed-cross" was whipped, wrapped with a black cloth, laid upon and carried during the "democracy", work, peace and "food" performances.

After the five consecutive days’ performance, I put the rice into ten sake bottles, which were labeled with woodcut prints I made in the museum's workshop. I also made 9 more panels with photo-images from the final day "food" performance. These images were superimposed with the following text which I had used during the performance: -

ALL FETUSES BEGIN AS FEMALE.
ALL FETUSES BEGIN AS FEMALE.
ALL FETUSES BEGIN AS FEMALE.
ALL FETUSES BEGIN AS FEMALE.
ONLY IN THE 3RD MONTH OF GESTATION DOES MASCULINIZATION BEGIN.
ONLY IN THE 3RD MONTH OF GESTATION DOES MASCULINIZATION BEGIN.
ONLY IN THE 3RD MONTH OF GESTATION DOES MASCULINIZATION BEGIN.
ALL FETUSES BEGIN AS FEMALE.
ALL FETUSES BEGIN AS FEMALE.
ALL FETUSES BEGIN AS FEMALE.

CHILDREN ARE INTUITIVE MORALISTS
CHILDREN ARE INTUITIVE MORALISTS
THE PROCESS OF INTERACTIONS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS IS A LEARNING PRODUCT.

JAPANESE AND ISRAELI. ALTHOUGH HAVING RADICALLY DIFFERING
MOTHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS IN CHILD REARING, HAVE IN THEIR SOCIETY,
RELATIVELY AND EQUALLY LOW RATES OF ENTERING INTO DELINQUENCY
AND CRIMINAL CAREERS. IN THE WESTERN SENSE
FREEDOM IS A SELF-EVIDENT GOOD. BUT.
BUT THE CHINESE CONSIDER FREEDOM AS "LICENTIOUSNESS" AND 'VALORIZATION OF PERSONAL LIBERTY'.

WHAT IS CONSIDERED FREEDOM MAY NOT HAVE SELF-EVIDENT VALUES IN SOME CULTURES.
HARMONY AND CONFORMITY IS PRIZED HIGHER THAN FREEDOM SOMETIMES. SOMETIMES.

"CONSENSUAL MARRIAGES' MAY BE ONE WAY OF ALLOWING INDIVIDUAL RIGHT TO REJECT CONDITIONS IMPOSED BY SOCIETY AND ESPECIALLY IN "CLAN. CONTROLLED' MARRIAGES.
"CONSENSUAL MARRIAGES' PREPARES THE GROUND FOR EXTENSION OF INDIVIDUALISM.
DOES A GOOD LIFE DEPEND ON 'RIGHTS' OR 'VIRTUES"?
ARE RIGHTS INHERENT ONLY IN INDIVIDUALS OR MORE IMPORTANTLY IN GROUPS?
WHICH IS BETTER, 'GROUP CENTRED' OR 'INDIVfDUAL-CENTRED" CULTURES?
FOR SOME, INDIVIDUALISM IMPLIES UNIVERSALISM.

SINCE IF EACH PERSON IS MORALLY EQUIVALENT THEN ALL PEOPLES ARE MORALLY EOUfVALENT.
"IMMORAL BEHAVIOUR-DOES NOT IMPLY WEAKNESS OF MORAL SENSE
THE PROBLEM OF WRONG ACTION ARISES FROM CONFLICT AMONG SEVERAL DIFFERENT MORAL SENSES.
THIS STRUGGLE. THIS STRUGGLE
THIS STRUGGLE BETWEEN 'MORALITY

' AND -SELF-INTEREST' HAS A CORROSIVE EFFECT ON THOSE FORCES THAT BLUNT THE MORAL SENSES.
SOME CULTURES EMPHASIZE DUTY AND SELF-CONTROL, OTHER CULTURES EMPHASIZE SYMPATHY AND FAIRNESS. TOO MUCH. TOO MUCH. TOO MUCH INDIVIDUALISM LEADS TO STIFFNESS, UNEASINESS AND ALIENATION SUBMISSION TO AUTHORITIES.
SUBMISSION TO AUTHORITIES AND UNQUESTIONING LEAD TO LACK OF CHOICE AND LOSS OF INDIVIDUAL ASSERTIVENESS.
WHAT HAPPENS TO SELF?
OR WHAT HAPPENS TO SOCIETY?

WHICH QUESTfON IS ASKED DEPEND ON WHOM IS ASKING NOW.
T.V. NEWSPAPER AND PRINT PRESSES HAVE FAR-REACHING ABILITY TO ELIMINATE THE MEDIA OPPOSITION TO RULING CULTURES.
THEREFORE THE RULING CULTURES MAY NOT ALLOW THEM TO DO SO WITOUT LICENSE.

CULTURES ATTEMPT TO PURGE FREEDOM .
VARIOUS FACTIONS OF MEDIA ARE STRONG-ARMED INTO SUBMISSION.
LICENSING AND REGULATION CONTROLS THE OWNERSHIP OF MEDIA.
OPPOSITIONS TO THE RULING CULTURE.

THE DIVISION OF MEDIA CONTROL STOCKS INTO 2 CLASSES OF
"MANAGEMENT" AND "ORDINARY" IS A BRILLIANT
"HiSTORICALLY-PROVEN" IDEA.
ONLY "MANAGEMENT" HAVE VOTING RIGHTS AND MUST HAVE THE APPROVAL
FROM THE RULING CULTURE.
"NON-CITIZENS" NEED NOT APPLY.
'FOREIGN INVESTORS' MUST NOT BE FROM EXTREMELY DIFFERING CULTURES
FROM THE RULING CULTURES.

GLOBAL CULTURE TODAY.
GLOBAL CULTURE IN TODAY'S WORLD ACCEPTS EVERY HUMAN BEING AS CITIZENS.
GLOBAL CULTURE IN TODAY'S WORLD IS SLOWLY LEARNING
THAT ALL LIVING BEINGS ARE CITIZENS.
WHO OPPOSES THE RULING CULTURES SHALL BE DEFINED BY THE
"MANAGEMENT" OF THE "MANAGEMENT" AS "FOREIGN".
THOSE WHO OPPOSE THE RULING CULTURE ARE "FOREIGN" AND CANNOT BE
THE "MANAGEMENT".
"NOTHING AGAINST THE SYSTEM. NOTHING WITHOUT THE SYSTEM. NOTHING
LIVES OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM." IS THE IMPLIED SECRET ARGUMENT.
SINCE DOING IS DIFFICULT...
SPEAKING MUST BE MORE CAUTIOUS.
SINCE DOING. IS DIFFICULT
SPEAKING BECOMES A CAUTIOUS EFFORT.
SINCE DOING IS DIFFICULT
SPEAK CAUTIOUSLY...