Serial one-shot column "Captivated by " / Part 5: Masaya Chiba is Captivated by "Toronto"

A prisoner of Toronto

I'm captivated by "Toronto" - or rather, I'm captivated by "Toronto"? Well, I actually bought my return ticket in August, so I have to stay here for a while longer, so it's like I'm tied down or I'm here of my own accord, but the atmosphere is that of a "captivated" person.

That's why I'm in TORONTO. (I'm just blowing the wind without explaining anything.)
My life here is pretty simple, just going to a language school and doing my homework.
At the same time, I've been shamelessly rubbing a mechanical pencil onto paper every night, trying to see if I can somehow turn this strange situation into a work of art.

Still, I do go out to entertainment districts every once in a while, and the club I went to recently was really fun.
I went with five of us, invited by my roommates, a Canadian couple (a female stewardess and a Cuban thug*, but they were really nice guys) and the gay couple living next door.
Before going, I asked what kind of place it was, and was told that it was a very traditional club with lots of drag queens and gay people, and that it plays South American music. Hmm, it seems to have a lot of elements.
I had to drink before the whole place consumed me! So I drank about 3 shots of beer as soon as I arrived, and somehow I felt like I was in a complicated place with many elements.
(*=thug, thug)

To begin with, the South American dancehall music that is blaring there is complex.
It starts with a four-on-the-floor salsa arrangement, then adds flamenco vocals over a 90's South Chitty Chitty beat, which sounds like Teppo-bushi, and just as I was thinking, "This is crazy," the DJ plays something that sounds like an old Thai tune, with a psychedelic dub feel, and the guys on the dance floor with their arms folded, who seem to be experts, ride it brilliantly with their salsa steps. You guys are amazing, seriously.

I was a little confused, but I thought, "Wow, this club is great," and turned to face the gay couple I was with. In the gap between the two of them, a tanned, muscular boy was sandwiched in between them, and the three of them were rubbing their bodies together and weeing. Well, it's fine as long as you're having fun.

Anyway, my beautiful black marble-like eyes see all sorts of contexts, or should I say contexts? I discover all kinds of histories and stories.

For example, the name of this club is "el convento rico" in Spanish, which means "the beutiful convent" in English, or "beautiful convent" in Japanese. When I think about the fact that drag queens gather there, I feel a feminist tradition.

Suddenly, I felt a firm grab on my shoulders and when I turned around, I saw a beautiful woman who looked like Monica Bellucci, but when I looked more closely, I saw that her body was as big as Jumbo Tsuruta in his prime.

He was a very likeable guy, and when he showed me some dance steps and bought me a shot, he put his face close to my ear and said, "Ja Rastafari!" (*=name of the Ethiopian king. The basic ideology and religious thought of reggae.)

I don't really know what it means, but it makes me feel good. He's just like the drag queen in the lyrics of "Walk on the Wild Side." RIP Lou Reed, and RIP Jumbo Tsuruta.

While I was getting sentimental, a South American woman with bleached blonde hair came running from the back and showed me her T-shirt.
The T-shirt had the character "Chibita" from Osomatsu-kun printed on it. When I responded with the word I just learned, "It's tremendous!", the woman started grinding her hips while making the motion of turning the throttle of a motorcycle.

Afterwards, an event that seemed like a second party for a wedding reception suddenly started, a man dressed like Robocop did a robot dance, and then a burly old man in the audience carried him off the stage like a princess, and all the audience members were behaving selfishly as the morning came.

To me, it seemed like a place to destroy the various stories that had accumulated in society.
For example, it's a place where you can kill a character who has always been with you since you read the novel. If you just read this, you'll probably think it's just a messy space.
In any case, this was more than just a place to let off some steam; it was a strangely creative festival.
This was very helpful, thank you people at 'el convent lico'.

[Link below for reference]

Looking at the club's homepage, it looks really cool.
http://www.elconventorico.com/

↓Is this what you mean when you say "chiki-chiki"?

↓This is what flamenco vocals are all about

↓ "Teppo-bushi" Apparently the name Teppo was given by Oda Nobunaga, cool

↓I'm sure you're familiar with "Walk on the Wild Side."

Masaya Chiba
Born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture in 1980. Painter

[Major solo exhibitions]
2011
"A Wonderful World I Could See Because I Was Alive" ShugoArts (Tokyo)
"Endlessly Comfortable Life" 16 Bungee (Seoul)

2008
"Mitsukyo" ShugoArts (Tokyo)

[Major group exhibitions]
2013-2014
"Mono No Aware. Beauty of Things. Japanese Contemporary Art" Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg)
"Roppongi Crossing 2013: Out of Doubt - For the Landscape to Come" Mori Art Museum (Tokyo)

2013
"If There's Art II" Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (Tokyo)
"2013 California-Pacific Triennial" Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California
"Re:Quest: Japanese Contemporary Art since the 1970s" Museum of Art, Seoul National University, Seoul "Tokyo Painting II" Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo

2012
"Kunisaki Peninsula Art Project" Kunisaki Peninsula (Oita)
"Sculpture by Other Means" ONE AND J. GALLERY (Seoul)

[Future plans]
December 16, 2015 - March 6, 2016 Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (Discordant Harmony) Exhibition