Yoko Suetsugu | HACO Gallery

Age || 43

Company Name || HACO Gallery -project space-

Job Title || Co-founder + Managing Director; Artist

Years Living In New York || 22 years

Company Start Date || Oct 2017

Social Handles || @haco_nyc

Company Website || HACO Gallery -project space-

What did you want to be while growing up?

An Excavator. Then a doctor, an astronomer, a piano teacher, a radio disc jockey, and an artist.

How did your background help you in creating HACO NYC?

I moved to NY from Japan in 1998 and started my career as an artist in 2003. All of the experiences I’ve had in NY inevitably formed a huge part of who I am and where I am today. And of course, I have held so many different jobs to support myself like everyone else. In the last 5-6 years, prior to establishing HACO, I worked as an art technician in museums, galleries, and at art fairs. This particular job showed me how museums and galleries operate, and I felt terrible and hopeless as an artist. It was not the fault of those places where I worked, but how the institutions themselves worked. There was too much capitalism and consumerism. In my opinion, art reflects the society and the time in which we are living in. I also believe that artists put their heart and passion into their works to give and share their energy with the world. For me, it makes the most sense when art is tangible and accessible and I often questioned how the New York City art scene tends to make people feel intimidated if you are not accustomed to the culture of high-end commercial art.

These feelings helped me to develop a very clear vision of what I would do if I were to establish my own version of a Gallery—an inclusive, accessible, welcoming project space where individuals from any background can feel safe and welcome. A project space where individuals from any background can interact with the artists and their artwork not only through their art, but also through engaging and affordable activities and workshops with character. Our opening receptions have DJs spinning suave mixes where there is a bucket full of margarita. The space is also for performances, rumba concerts, pilates classes, aromatherapy sessions- the list keeps growing. I truly believe that each creation should be well celebrated.

What made you interested in starting this space?

During the time between jobs as an art technician, I worked for David Reinna Design company as a welder. Since I am a metal sculptor, I always enjoy working at a welding shop, and by a total coincidence, I was introduced to the owner of this company Dave, who also is a former toy model design teacher for decades at FIT. Soon after, we became really good friends and I knew that he was looking for a tenant for a commercial space in his building. When my brother visited me around Christmas time in 2016 from Tokyo, everything changed. The three of us hung out at Dave’s shop to celebrate Christmas and my brother saw this empty commercial space. My brother said “why don’t we do something together? An art project.” I just laughed and didn’t take him seriously in the beginning. Remember I mentioned earlier that I was completely heartbroken as an artist working in the field at the time, and I had lost track of my own journey. I eventually thought to myself, why not? With my brother, the coolest brother I could ever ask for, I would greatly risk it all.

So the stars aligned most unexpectedly, and my brother and I decided to dive into this insane journey together to make this project space a reality. He had a vision to create a space for artists and artisans who reside in Japan to have access to a place where they can showcase their arts and crafts to people in New York City. I’ve also dreamt of supporting local Artists here in NY. I’ve met too many amazing and talented artists from all over the world, who all endure the same issue of “how to support themselves as artists.” Including myself, I did not want to believe the cliché that artists are meant to be broke. Instead, I believe that artists should be living comfortably by receiving a fair income by their own creations. I don’t have a magic wand to fix it all, but what I can do realistically with this project space is to utilize my background and circumstances to somehow help expose Artists from New York to Japan. Merging my brother’s idea and my idea became the foundation of the “HACO Gallery.” In a way, we are creating a bridge, me from New York City and my brother from Japan. We would like to meet somewhere in the midpoint. In time, our projects will keep growing in many directions.

What’s the best piece of advice you were given when you were starting out?

Keep doing what you are doing.

Could you share the meaning behind the name HACO?

The word HACO serves as an acronym for:

Human

Art

Core

Odyssey

This also results in the word HACO, which in Japanese means “a box.”

We believe that the world is in us, not the other way around. We wished to create an empty box (HACO) and fill that box with humans and art. We hope that the experiences and stories within this box will trigger our guests to find and touch their own core and take off on an odyssey of their own making.

How do you define success?

Success is a state of mind which keeps changing its form depending on your goals.

How do you decide which businesses to feature at HACO NYC?

When we are producing, it is based purely on a feeling, a vibe, a passion, quality / craftsmanship. We also rent the space for whomever likes the space, or if it suits their needs for their projects.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned since starting out?

Bare truth. Learning about myself. What I am capable of or not, what I like and what I don’t like. To know about myself is one thing, but to be able to acknowledge and learn what is good or bad is something not many of us necessarily want to face every day. So I thank HACO for these painful yet profound experiences.

How has your business changed since the pandemic?

Business wasn’t even a choice. My brother and I had many conversations at night by phone to figure out a way. For me, once the shock of the pandemic soaked in, the limited circumstances actually helped me to simplify and gather my vision of what I wanted to do and what the possible alternatives would be realistically with the space, and the project HACO itself, to its core. The government regulations were drastic, but that was all external. Internally, it turned out to be a moment in life that triggered the clarity I searched for. I believe that I found clearer and tangible answers to some questions I had. But of course, I’m nowhere close to finding all of the solutions yet. So I can only keep trying.

What is your go-to motivational quote and/or personal motto?

About 12 years ago, I saw an exhibition about small scale sculptures at the Museum of Design. I unfortunately don’t remember the title of this exhibition, but I was so mesmerized, inspired, and haunted, I still remember some of the layout visually. I took a picture of one of the quotes that is on my wall to this day.

You can not put feelings on a physical scale, or try to measure them. And we live in feelings more than ‘physical’ - which is but another name for ‘feelings.’ What is the size of your feeling for life? What is the size of the word ‘size?’ Small worlds are not fake worlds, because we are not in the world, the world is in us.

Which women inspire you?

People who are comfortable with themselves. People who are aware, curious, fearless, and who attempt to be in charge of the balance between emotion, spirit and body / health even when they are imbalanced, and no matter how many times she / he / they feel hopeless. Having said that, optimistic, creative individuals inspire me.

What has been the most rewarding thing since starting HACO NYC?

Adventure. Every encounter with people, curating space, taking a part of making it all happen with each artist’s vision is one big adventure.

What advice would you give to other women trying to enter your field?

To remind yourself to be yourself no matter what happens. Keep yourself as your best friend and a bottle of wine or something.

What are some of your goals moving forward for HACO NYC?

Currently, HACO is in collaboration with 9 to 5 VINTAGE pop up store. They have fine quality, one-of-a-kind vintage clothing selected by Kyle. The clothes are for sale at HACO along with fine crafted essential oil blends for your needs, hand sanitizer, comforting sleep spritzer, energy boost oils by a local certified aromatherapist. Also at HACO are the absolutely beautiful works of art from the artists who previously had exhibitions there: photographs by Neon O’clocks works, paintings and drawings by Mario Mandara, and pottery made in a traditional way that is centuries old by artisans from Fukushima, Japan. And, humbly, my welded metal sculptures join the other amazing artists. All are on view and for sale at HACO.

Lastly, going back to my story of building a bridge. I’ve always wanted to create a residency program in my hometown, Fukushima, Japan. I dreamt of sending a bunch of colorful artists from NY to experience and explore the beautiful nature and the authentic country life in Japan to hopefully inspire their creativity. I know in my heart that the people from my hometown would be so very happy to host artists from all over the world and be inspired by them since many of them have never met foreigners. After three years of searching, HACO connected with one organization who has been the only existing art residency in Nishiaizu, Fukushima. It is the Nishiaizu International Art Village. Our co-application was approved recently by the Japanese government to obtain funds to send artists from NY to Fukushima. The artists will create works of art in the Nishiaizu International Art village residency program and showcase their art works at HACO. This all happened before the pandemic. We don’t know yet how to run this program because of COVID-19, but I am so very excited to work on this next chapter.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.