<Begin Segment 25>

MN: What year was this when you had your one-man show?

TH: Probably toward the beginning of 1950 probably.

MN: And what kind of paintings did you show?

TH: Well, at that time it was more like semi-abstract painting.

MN: So the audience, who were they? Were they Japanese Americans or mostly hakujin?

TH: I don't know. Went there and it was just like, this radio station, small station, KPFA in Berkeley, and space was limited, so the painting was hanging on the side of the wall of the stairs, that's the only thing. And another place was in Oakland, Gray Shop, called, and mezzanine, the paintings were hanging in the mezzanine. And I sold a couple of paintings. I wish I hadn't sold it now. There was, one of the paintings was my best painting.

MN: What is it of, this painting that you wish you didn't sell?

TH: Oh, this was a painting of a man and a woman, man was playing guitar, and the woman was kind of looking over his shoulder from behind.

MN: So you sold a lot of your paintings through the years. Can you tell us what different museums have your paintings?

TH: Well, the first painting I sold was through the, through the San Francisco Fine Art Museum, San Francisco, so it's hanging, supposed to be hanging in the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. Other one was a painting of MP building, which I did at Topaz, which was purchased by the Autry Museum of Western Heritage. And last two paintings were purchased by the (L.A.) County Museum (of Art). Of course, they were all sold through private collectors.

MN: And most of these paintings, were they of the camp period, or were they of your abstracts?

TH: It's camp. Three of them were camp paintings, one which I painted for the 1998 show at the Pro Arts Gallery which was called the "Arts After Incarceration." Not just the camp painting, but also the artworks of prisoners in this country and also South America. And interesting story is that this curator, her name is Betty Kano, anyway, she asked me that I present a current painting. And so I was kind of forced to paint something, and I painted a completely abstract painting, which was actually related to camp. It was called Basic Design, it's a layout of the block and barracks, the background is the red, white and blue, which represented the United States. Which I wasn't completely satisfied, because the symbolism was too, kind of too obvious. But anyway, the museum bought it, so supposed to be hanging there. But I'm, I feel that I'm really very fortunate. I'm basically a camp painter. Without camp, I have no real inspiration, you might say.

MN: Do you still paint?

TH: Well, I try to, but it's in the process, you might say.

MN: How has your techniques changed over the years?

TH: It has become completely abstract. But in camp, I had this, I don't know, energy, you might say. In a way, I was forced to paint. It was something that was welling up from within. But outside, I was really, got confused. The outside world was too complicated. Looked kind of superficial. In camp, there was that basic elemental quality, the poetry, the simplicity, which moved me. But outside, I couldn't find anything, any inspiration. So that's why, even though camp life has been a tragic event, I still value it for the experience.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.