Trip to SYD MEAD LAB Nara Tsutaya Books 2024/1/11

 

In the last 3 months I have been to quite a few Gallery Art exhibits. Something I intend to continue with.  This week it was the free "one year of his passing"  Syd Mead Lab exhibition at Nara Tsutaya Books 2F Gallery.  What is different about this artist though, is I have been a hard core Syd Mead devotee for decades, and am not just a casual viewer.

They had put on an exhibit at the same place in 2020, that I would have liked to attend, but that was just as Covid-19 was really starting to kick in and I decided not travelling by train was the best thing to do.

So I didn't miss the opportunity this time, to see what was on offer. I was given a personnel tour by the Curator, Hiroshi Matsui that we pre-arranged. On X (twitter) he is @SydMode

I hadn't seen most of what was on display before. Things like working faxes between Syd and Sunrise on the development of the TURN A GUNDAM designs and the original 1965 CELCON ACETAL COPOLYMER book 

and 3 of the actual size original (or prints) that went into the pages in it. Very graphic and stylized design work. 

He very kindly took the book out of the locked display case and showed me the first few pages, next to the original paintings. I took photos for my own reference, but not to publish online in no "FAIR USE" Japan. Now it isn't like I don't have SYD MEADS artworks, my own collection is this:

But my kronovecta book, from the big KRONOLOG boxed set has 10 pages on this CELCON work, but the reproduced pages are very much just thumbnails, and the 23 page images are almost too small to read.

So it was great to see many life sized sketches and paintings, even if some were high quality prints. He had a lovely set of 3 A2 limited edition prints for sale, which I would have liked to have, but I don't have any wall space to frame and display them. 

He also had on display models, toys and kits of Syd Meads designs and made me realize I have a few myself. Such as the SULACO from ALIENS, A TURN Gundam figures,  and my unbuilt models like the YAMATO 2520 &  BLADERUNNER LAZER SPINNER. 

A key thing to me was the original sketch with Syd's words THE FUTURE IS TERRIFIC - I'VE BEEN THERE.  To me, there is such joy and hope in his elaborate future paintings with peoples, animals, vehicles and environments.   Inspiring!

So did a rough 2B pencil sketch the next morning: 

First time for me to take the bit over an hour trip from home in Kyoto to the bookstore. About an hour by 2 trains to Shin-Omiya Station, then a 12 minute walk to the site that is next to the Nara Convention Center.

Tsutaya is a wonderful bookstore/ Starbucks café. 

Hope to keep in touch with and meet up with Hiroshi Matsui again in the near future.  A card he gave me says SYD MEAD LAB will be at Osaka COMICON 2024 May 3~5

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