Introducing Takeshi Spider Hamanaka, spreading kindness through Nontemporary Art
What action are you offering in your community?
I’m Takeshi Spider Hamanaka, sculptor and also Nontemporary artist from Kanagawa, Japan. Please call me Takeshi. I made up “Nontemporary Art”, it’s a new art movement. I went to Vancouver to study English and art in 2001. There I met my teacher, Jean-Guy Dallaire. He’s a sculptor and also photographer. I learned Sahara foam techniques and bronze sculpture from him. And then the next year I had my exhibition with him in Vancouver. After my career as a bronze sculptor, I tried many materials like stone, wood, plaster or paint. I made my first recycled artwork in 2008 by using disposable plastic bottles. Since then, I’ve been holding my Spider Street Show around the world with my plastic bottle art.
My first plastic bottle artwork was a giant spider “Queen”, over 2 meters high. I made some women cry. They were afraid of my spider in my exhibition in Vancouver in 2009.
I decide on the theme and then I make plastic bottle art. I pick the location and the time, and then I travel to that city with my artwork. I wear my spider on my back and walk on the street. There’s usually a connection between that location and my artwork. Because I’m doing Nontemporary art, I held my Spider Street Show at Art Basel Miami Beach, which is the most popular contemporary art fair in the world.
And for my EU/UE piece, I held my show in Berlin and Helsinki, main countries of the EU. And for Golden Death, I held my show on Wall Street in New York because that artwork is against too much capitalism. I don’t like the idea of mammonism. I know we need money, but money is just paper. We have more valuable things. Those are invisible, but more valuable.
What inspired you to offer this action?
In the 16th century in Italy, Michelangelo made many good stone sculptures because there was a lot of good marble in Italy. But in the 21st century in Tokyo, Japan, we have a lot of plastic bottles. Michelangelo didn’t have these plastic bottles. They’re new materials.
I love bronze, but it’s very expensive here and rare, so I thought maybe I should try some other materials. And I arrived at plastic bottles. They’re free! I think it’s fine material for art!
We collect plastic bottles as recycling, but actually our government burns most of them (energy recovery). The recycling system doesn’t work well because recycling plastic bottles is more expensive than making new ones. It doesn’t make sense! Aluminum is good recycling material, but plastic bottles aren’t good for recycling. So I recycle plastic bottles for art.
I like plastic bottles because it’s good material for art. Plastic bottles have numbers on the bottom. Number 1 P.E.T. is a very popular one. These aren’t poisonous when you burn them. They’re used for water bottles or juice. I use only those bottles. How do you believe this particular action can help people? What are the benefits?
It depends on the person. When I hold my Spider Street Show, I meet many people. I love to see the reaction from people and get their comments. Some people love my art, they have a big smile and they look happy. But sometimes my artwork has some poison in it. For example, one of my artworks, Passionate Lover.
I also have a concept of Nontemporary art. Nontemporary art means anti contemporary art. There is a lot of good contemporary art, of course, but on the other side, there is a lot of bad contemporary art too.
Now art could be anything. If I have a pen, I could say, “This is art.” Somebody might buy it for a million dollars. You know that banana story from Art Basel last year? I went to the Art Basel in Miami and heard the story there. An Italian artist brought a banana to the Art Basel. Then he put that on the wall with duct tape and he said it’s $120,000. And then a French collector bought that. And after that, that artist put another banana there again, and he ate it! And that’s Art Basel, the best art fair in the world. Contemporary Art could be anything. If somebody says it’s art, it’s art.
Also, one of my friends is Terence Koh. I met him in Vancouver 18 years ago. At that time, he was just a student at Emily Carr. After that, he went to New York and he got very famous there. And then many museums or rich people wanted to buy his art. They went crazy! And then Terrence finally made lots of weird artwork. He wore his underpants for a couple of weeks, and he said, it’s art. And many buyers bought that. And finally he pooped and dipped it into gold and said it’s art. And a museum bought that. If you go to London, there’s a very famous art museum, Tate Modern, with his artwork, “Gold Plated Poop”. I saw that there in 2015. That’s the contemporary art world now. Terence was smart. That art was a sarcastic statement. I understand his thinking. But people don’t understand. They just want to buy it, it’s great art, he’s famous. They think it’s a good investment, the same as the banana story. That’s why I’m against that contemporary art. I think we should make a new art movement. So I made up Nontemporary Art.
Artist Statement: “Art used to be more passionate, powerful and soulful. It seemed like beautiful lovers resolved their differences between races and cultures. At this moment, art is more apathetic, powerless and empty. And we call it contemporary art. The time of contemporary art is over. I’m beginning Nontemporary Art. Nontemporary Art is an attempt to regain the core of art.”
Some people are happy when they see my art. Some people aren’t happy because they love rich contemporary art and I’m against that. And also, some people get mad. It depends.
In 2014, I held my street show in Berlin, Germany. At that time, I made another sculpture called EU/UE (European Union/Unstable Europe). I drew a big map of Europe, with 28 countries of the EU on the back of the spider, and on the other side there is a map of Europe in 1942 under invasion of the Nazis.
Artist Statement: The European Union has left the risk of returning to an unstable Europe. Present Europe is very colorful however, during World War II, Europe was dyed 3 colors, Gray- Liberalism, Black- Fascism and Red- Communism. Which Europe is more beautiful, the present or the past?
When I made this sculpture, I thought the concept of EU is so beautiful. But it’s too beautiful and it’s very difficult to keep it. There are many problems now. Like some countries are getting very rich and some are getting very poor. And also lots of immigrants and refugees went to the EU and they have many problems. And some countries want to stop them but some countries want to bring them in. And there are many conflicts.
One day, some guy punched my artwork because he hated the EU system. I understood his feeling. That’s fine, that’s his reaction. That punch was not that strong anyway. I just wanted to share my message for EU.
“Become not a Melting Pot but a beautiful Mosaic.”
What are you trying to bring to people with your artwork?
When I make my artwork, I have a theme and a concept. I want to show my artwork to express my concept, and then I want to share that concept with people. But those people aren’t always art fans. They’re just walking on the street, they don’t expect my art is coming. That’s the fun part of Spider Street Show. That’s why when they see my art, it’s their right to ignore it or to love it. It depends on the person, and also it depends on their mind. My street show is like the northern lights.
Why did you choose to do a street show?
I’ve been showing my art in galleries since 2003. I held my show in New York and also Vancouver and Japan. When I joined the group show in Queens, New York in 2009, I was the main artist with three others. Then I argued with owner of the gallery about the unfair contract. I felt like I was one of the gallery guys. If they didn’t like it, they could throw me out and pick someone else. If they can sell my artwork, they love me. If they don’t sell my art, they don’t care about me. I’m just an easy part that they can replace anytime. It’s all about business. I understand that they’re just doing business. But I felt that was too much for me. It’s the 21st century, we should think about new ways to exhibit artworks. Not only “White Cube”, it’s time to try something new.
Also, I’ve been seeing many top galleries and art fairs around the world, like in Switzerland, the U.K. and the United States. In New York, Chelsey area has many top galleries. I held my street show there 3 times. I went into the galleries with my spider. Chelsey is one of my favourite areas in New York, but still, there’s lots of poor art. And it’s hyper expensive. But it doesn’t make sense to me. When I look at it, I don’t feel anything. For many people, contemporary art is like a puzzle. They have many questions and it makes them think. But some of the art has an empty head. There are no questions, there are no puzzles. But still, the audience tries to think about what it means. But actually, there’s nothing in it. Like an Art Basel Banana! It’s like cheating people to me.
If someone really loves to see my art, they can. If they reach me through my website, they might find me somewhere. Or if somebody doesn’t expect anything, they might see my art on the street.
Also, I love Miami! There’s Art Basel and Scope, Miami Beach, lots of huge art fairs every year in December during “Art Basel Week”. It’s the top art fair in the world. It started in Switzerland and then went to Miami and now Hong Kong. I’ve never been to Hong Kong, but I’ve been to the one in Switzerland and Miami. I love that atmosphere when the people are passionate and happy. But even in Art Basel, I can see lots of garbage. Very expensive garbage. I like the people in Miami. They have a good life and they love art and are friendly. When they see me, they come to talk to me full of curiosity. I like that reaction. Also, that time is special for them. Art Basel week is a week for art, so people’s mind is in art.
By the way, I’ve been fighting against Art Basel since 2012. I went to Switzerland in 2012, and travelled to Lausanne, Basel and Zurich with my spider. I wanted to get into the Art Basel. But there were security guards and police officers at the entrance. They didn’t let me in because I was wearing something unique on my back. So I had my show in front of the Art Basel, but I couldn’t get in. Finally, I left my spider at the entrance area and I got in by myself. That was my first Art Basel. And then the next one was 2013 in Miami. I did the same thing in Miami again. But I couldn’t get in. And then the next year in 2014, that was my third time. I tried it again in Miami and I couldn’t do it. But the next day, I met my friend Luke from New York. He’s a lawyer, and he has good friends in Miami. He borrowed a Platinum VIP card for Art Basel from his friend. And then I went there with him. Security thought maybe he’s a VIP person and I’m with him, so maybe I’m an important person. Then I could get in finally! I had my show inside Art Basel and people were very surprised! My battle against Art Basel was over like this.
How many places have you taken the show to? I’ve held the Spider Street Show in New York, Tokyo, Basel, Lausanne, Zurich, Vancouver, Miami, Berlin, Helsinki, Yokohama, Niigata, London, Kagawa, Taipei, Taranto, Pompeii, Venice and Rome.
Where are you planning to go next?
I don’t know. I wanted to go to New York this year. There is a fashion show in Brooklyn that they have every spring. One of the organizers wanted to bring me to the Brooklyn fashion show as a model to wear one of my artworks. Unfortunately, it was postponed because of Coronavirus.
A few years ago in Miami, a fashion designer called Daniel Chimowitz did a fashion show in the Jewish Museum as part of the Art Basel events. The night before the event, I met him on the street. He was drinking at a bar and I was walking on the street withmy shining spider (Spider with LED lights).He loved my spider and said, “Tomorrow I will have my show at the Jewish Museum. Come!” I said, “Okay.” And I went. I wore his clothes and became one of his models. And wore my big spider over his clothes. The spider is called “Death Media”. That’s one of my best artworks.
Artist Statement: There is a reaper whose name is “Death Media” in the Mass Media. Death media cheats people and destroys countries. Don’t believe everything the media tells you. Take a deep breath and think for yourself.
What got you into this activity? Why are you passionate about it?
I started making art when I was 3 years old. I loved to play with clay. I also loved to draw all day. I was born in Kanagawa, Japan in 1975, and I grew up in Shizoka prefecture. It has a huge modern art museum with sculptures by Auguste Rodin, the French sculptor. I loved his bronze art so much. I went to the museum to see his artworks like “The Thinker”, “The Burghers of Calais” or “The Gates of Hell”. There were lots of beautiful bronze sculptures. I thought that I want to make bronze sculptures one day.
Then I went to Tokoha-Kikugawa high school. It has an art & design department, and I learned sculpture, paintings and design. After graduation, I wanted to go to a Japanese art university. But that wasn’t easy. There are few famous art universities in Japan and many people want to get into those art universities. Passing the examination is very difficult. You have to draw and make clay sculptures and only one in twenty pass the examination. Many people try to do that again the next year. I thought maybe that’s the way to learn bronze or be an artist. Actually many Japanese students go that way. I fought for it. I tried to get in there for 3 years, but I couldn’t pass the examination. Actually, I was not a good student. The teacher showed us how to draw or make clay sculptures. I know that’s important, but I thought that’s boring! If you draw people, it’s like a picture. We have a camera!
I know the basics to learn something is important, but if you do that for three years to pass the examination, your mind becomes very solid, not flexible. After that, if people pass the examination to go to the art university, their minds are not that fresh. They know how to draw people, how to make sculptures – it’s all the same, like a copy. But we have 3D printers now. What’s the point? Computers do that!
After failing all examinations, I went to Okinawa and lived there. I thought a lot about my future on the beach and I decided to go to Vancouver, Canada for studying English and something new. I went to Vancouver in 2001, and met a lot of great people there. Fortunately, I had an apprenticeship under sculptor, Jean-Guy Dallaire. I’m proud of that. Thank you so much to my sister Marlene, my mentor Emmanuel and my friends in Canada. Why does kindness count?
I have a background of Japanese culture and in my country, kindness is everywhere. It’s not that special. It’s like air or water. And if I insist about my kindness, people think that’s not mature in Japan. When we do something nice for somebody, we don’t talk much about it. We should help each other in times of need. We also have an old proverb in Japan. “Good done to others is good done to oneself” (nasake wa hito no tame narazu). I think kindness is born from moral education. We learn those things from our parents. When I was in kindergarten or an elementary school student, I learned that from teachers, too. We have a subject of moral education (doutoku). We talk about the morality, think about people’s feelings, how they might feel if you do something. And also our parents teach that to kids because it’s necessary, not that special. For example, if you don’t have that kind of thought, you can’t join a community or company. I can’t say every Japanese is kind, but at least we have that kind of thinking about morality. In fact, kindness is so important for maintaining healthy societies.
Another part is religion. We have two basic religions in Japan. One is Shinto. We go to shrines to pray for that. There’s 8 million gods! Everything could be god – rivers, trees, rocks, frogs, snakes, foxes or whales. We live together and share everything in the divine nature. That’s Japanese Shintoism. Nature is the god. We’re part of nature, humans aren’t that special. We kill animals to eat to live. We kill whales to eat but we use all of the bones or skin for our life. There’s no waste. That’s our tradition, from over 2000 years ago.
The second religion is Buddhism from India. We go to shrines and we go to temples. We respect both of them and there is no battle. Most people go to both, it’s normal. I think that some people believe in their religion very strongly, but many of the Japanese don’t believe like that. Shinto and Buddhism are a part of our life. Every New Years day, so many Japanese go to the shrine or the temple to pray. They go to see the new year’s sun. The top Japanese Shinto god is the sun. The next one is for food or harvest. And the first god is female, second is male. Eight million means infinity. Everything could be god. That’s why you should show respect to others. .
Is kindness contagious?
Yes, I believe so. It’s a very tough question. Because the world is not that simple, it’s very complicated. I want to believe that humankind is good. But actually there are bad people too. There are lots of wars and battles. I learned about politics a lot by myself, and history too. That’s why I know that the situation now is very tough in the world. But if you show some kindness to someone, some people might show some kindness to another person. Or maybe not. Some people don’t care about anything. If you show kindness, they don’t care. Because they aren’t educated and they don’t have that kind of thought. For example, if I get something, that’s all mine. I don’t care about other people. I know those people too.
I can say one thing, if you are a good person and are very kind, those people will come to you, they’ll get together like a group because they like you. In that community, there’s some influence that kindness has. That’s possible.
How can people get involved with what you’re doing?
Just follow me. I have Facebook, Instagram as Takeshi Spider Hamanak (aka Takeshi Spider). I also have my YouTube channel, Spider Street Show. You can watch over 400 videos of my street show from 2010 to 2019, from New York to Miami. I hope you enjoy my show. See you someday, somewhere.