Early evening thundershowers have raised humidity in Harajuku's Lapnet Ship Gallery to near-sauna level, but despite the sticky discomfort the tiny room is packed on this Saturday night. It's the much-anticipated opening party for Vivienne Sato's exhibition "Wig Wig Wig," and by following a Marge Simpson-like beehive of fluorescent green feathers floating above the sweaty heads one can mark the progress of the self-described "Artistic Drag Queen," as Sato, always perfectly composed (well, almost always), shmoozes through the crush of kooky and curious friends and fans, smiling, air-kissing, accepting bouquets.
The walls are chockablock with watercolor drawings and neon signs; special-edition T-shirts and a new line of personal toiletry products; and Sato's trademark wigs. The feel-good show is bright and bold and beautiful, a triumph for Japan's most outrageous transvestite artist.
The thirtysomething Sato (she does not divulge her age) is a part-time carpenter who spent several years working in the office of Arata Isozaki, arguably Japan's most accomplished living architect. Then an architecture student herself, Sato began using internal trusses to prop up the wigs she was wearing out at night, and soon transparent plastic globes were added to the exterior of the towering hairpieces, these often filled with colorful feathers. Eventually, other details came to adorn the increasingly elaborate constructions, and Tokyo's nightclubbers had found a fantastic new hero.