AFTER THE BUBBLE. Oil on Canvas
This painting depicts the demolition site of a bankrupt golf driving range. It is a monument to the wild excesses of the Japanese bubble economy, a reminder of the tragic end to an era of wild economic speculation. In amongst the green and red Astroturf are manga comics and an old TV, the latter being the broken foundation upon which the Japanese miracle was built. High-finance booms often present as hyper-masculine miracles and so the “castrated” central pole reminds us of the nemesis that awaits this hubris.
The composition wells up to the tiny houses like an unwelcome Tsunami and yet despite itself, the temporal forms hold a beautiful aesthetic fascination.
Many year later the artists returned to the spot where it is now covered in solar panels, perhaps a fitting epitaph to a better, more sustainable future.
Notes on the Golf Boom
During the asset boom or Japanese Bubble Economy (1986 to 1991) soaring land values and increased prosperity meant that the cost of playing golf rapidly inflated. Most of these fees were paid by corporate expense accounts. The privilege of such a game was unobtainable to the average salaryman and so towering green netted driving ranges sprang up in every city, allowing the less affluent citizens to practise their skills for the magic day when they would be allowed on to the hallowed turf of a real course. Named uchippanashi (meaning, “just hit it”) many ranges stacked up 3 high with people hitting up to 300 balls a session.
At the height of the Japanese Bubble Economy, Tokyo golf club memberships were trading for ridiculous amounts. In 1987 the New York Times reported that “An avid golfer offered $3.57 million to buy a membership at the exclusive Koganei Country Club but no member was willing to sell, even for that unprecedented sum”. Golf memberships were being traded as securities and even non-golfers and businesses were buying memberships for investment purposes. Even now, papers publish a daily Nikkei Golf Membership Index, alongside the list of company shares.
On top of the fees, a prime tee-off slot on the weekend was over $300.
Development companies would sell advanced memberships on prospective courses to finance the building work, often obtaining full capitalisation before a single green was laid. Clubs were collecting over 45million pounds in advance for prospectively elite developments where up-front deposits for new members could be £450,000. The clubs paid no interest or dividends to their investors.
In addition, mass tourism and cheap flights saw a boom in the development of golf clubs in satellite nations, much them carved into virgin forests where the constant pesticide run off, thirsty watering needs and accompanying road and hotel developments cause sizable environmental damage.
When the bubble eventually burst in the Japanese economy around the early 1990's the golf business was hit very hard.
The painting attempts to grasp not only the narrative of the golf economy but the transitory beauty of junk heaps.
The composition wells up to the tiny houses like an unwelcome Tsunami and yet despite itself, the temporal forms hold a beautiful aesthetic fascination.
Many year later the artists returned to the spot where it is now covered in solar panels, perhaps a fitting epitaph to a better, more sustainable future.
Notes on the Golf Boom
During the asset boom or Japanese Bubble Economy (1986 to 1991) soaring land values and increased prosperity meant that the cost of playing golf rapidly inflated. Most of these fees were paid by corporate expense accounts. The privilege of such a game was unobtainable to the average salaryman and so towering green netted driving ranges sprang up in every city, allowing the less affluent citizens to practise their skills for the magic day when they would be allowed on to the hallowed turf of a real course. Named uchippanashi (meaning, “just hit it”) many ranges stacked up 3 high with people hitting up to 300 balls a session.
At the height of the Japanese Bubble Economy, Tokyo golf club memberships were trading for ridiculous amounts. In 1987 the New York Times reported that “An avid golfer offered $3.57 million to buy a membership at the exclusive Koganei Country Club but no member was willing to sell, even for that unprecedented sum”. Golf memberships were being traded as securities and even non-golfers and businesses were buying memberships for investment purposes. Even now, papers publish a daily Nikkei Golf Membership Index, alongside the list of company shares.
On top of the fees, a prime tee-off slot on the weekend was over $300.
Development companies would sell advanced memberships on prospective courses to finance the building work, often obtaining full capitalisation before a single green was laid. Clubs were collecting over 45million pounds in advance for prospectively elite developments where up-front deposits for new members could be £450,000. The clubs paid no interest or dividends to their investors.
In addition, mass tourism and cheap flights saw a boom in the development of golf clubs in satellite nations, much them carved into virgin forests where the constant pesticide run off, thirsty watering needs and accompanying road and hotel developments cause sizable environmental damage.
When the bubble eventually burst in the Japanese economy around the early 1990's the golf business was hit very hard.
The painting attempts to grasp not only the narrative of the golf economy but the transitory beauty of junk heaps.