Find what the shape is depending on your experience

- The shape of the motif (above) is interesting. It looks like an airplane to me when I get close.

That's the fun thing I can express with a paint. I don't want to paint a specific object such as a tree or an airplane explicitly. I want the viewer to imagine what the shape is as they like.

Even if some shapes may look like animals, when you look at the entire painting, it may look like a face. It's really interesting for me to create those different aspects.

- Can you tell us more about that idea?

I saw a TED presentation mentioning about people's perception before. In that presentation, the audience could read out the screened sentence even when only the first and the last letter of the words were given. The presenter wanted to show that our brains take meaningless information and make meaning out of it. We never see what's there, but we only see what was useful to see in the past.

What I am doing is similar to this idea. I provide a shape as a hint and the viewers can understand the shapes from their own experiences. That's an exciting thing. Some may see a face in my painting, when others don't. It depends on their experiences.

-Since you have skills, isn't it difficult for your to draw something not specific? I guess it is easier for you to draw a bird than drawing something it might look like a bird.

When the shape starts to look like something specific in my eye, I review what it could look like from another perspective. I keep thinking by seeing from different angles for a few weeks.

When one shape looks like a bird in detail, I see it from apart and rethink. I try to make it look like something else by combining several shapes in my mind. I see my work from both close and apart so that the shape will not be a specific something.

For example, if you don't know about a deer, but when you encounter it, you still recognize it. I try to see things in that sense.

-Wow, that sounds difficult! How can you ignore your recognition which tells you to see it as a deer?

One of the reasons may be that I'm not attached in one object. I easily get tired of one thing and move to the next one. When you get addicted to one thing, your can't put your eyes off of it. I try to see anything in the same emotion.

Playing in the blank space

-You said in the statement that "I imagine an anonymous place and blank space, then embody and reconstruct the power and memory which remains." What does the "blank space" imply?

I'm not depicting a specific space in my work. I used to play in a blank space in my childhood. I lived in the middle of Tokyo. There was little room for nature and playgrounds. Blank space was a place where nobody would disturb me. There was a freedom. I enjoyed playing there by myself.

Playing at that space and playing in my painting somewhat linked in my head afterwards.  Blank space is a springhead of my painting. Now, I want to create the most playful space in my painting.

-What does "playing in a painting" mean for you?

I draw with a paint and that is my playing tool. I can decide how to use this tool and choose what to draw which is enjoyable for me. Playing is more like interest or excitement than finding what is comfortable for me. Imagine you are watching a fun movie. You don't have to think about its historical background. That is what I want to realize.

-What kind of blank spaces do you like, especially?

I like the place where not many people walk by and nobody will find me. It is the place where I can feel as if it is my own place. A secret space where even my friends or parents don't know.

-This painting (above "Rae Hu") reminds me of a cloud in summer.

This one is a little bit different from other paintings since my desire is included.

In my childhood, I stayed in Hokkaido (the most northern island in Japan) where my grandfather lived and I used to see these kinds of scenery and clouds during my summer vacation. It was a place where I wanted to stay much longer. I love the cumulonimbus cloud. It makes me feel excited since it looks as if there is a hidden castle of Laputan. (Film "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" directed by Hayao Miyazaki,1986 )

-Another cloud shape is seen in this work too.

This one is more like a smoke instead of a cloud. It may not be appropriate to say this but the shape of a smoke born from a big explosion is actually beautiful, just seeing its shape. Some sort of fears and pains are also included in this work.

Starting directly on canvas to keep mind fresh

-How do you create your work? Could you tell us about your process?

I don't do drawings or make a precise draft for my work, but directly start drawing on a canvas. It is because I want to keep my mind fresh.

-All your ideas are only in your head?

I do very small drawings a lot. They are more like scribbles that you draw while you are talking over phone. I pick a few scribbles among them. Then, make a canvas in the determined size all by myself.

-These works (above) seems like a pair.

When I am working on one painting, I often come up with another idea.  After working on bright colors with tension, I want to work on dull colors in low-key.

Usually, there are two types of works which are in extremely opposite direction. This process is also necessary to keep up my motivation since when I work on only one style of coloration, it tends to end up with an unsatisfied work.

-Your sculptures are so funny! Why did you start to create these?

As I do small drawings on paper, it tends to become in similar shapes. I want to create a shape which is unseen even for myself. So I started to collect objects and combine them to find a new shape which has never appeared in my mind. I want to encounter new shapes through this process.

-How do you put a title on your work?

For the title of the paintings named with "ooparts", "ooparts" is a word to be named on an historical object found in a very unusual or seemingly impossible to be created in the same historical period. 

For the sculptures, the letter "k" comes from the word "kami"(meaning god in Japanese). It is believed that the god is living in each object in Japan which is describe as "Yao yorozu no kami" meaning "eight million gods". So I am planning to create a lot of these gods.

-Sounds fun to see new shaped gods. Thank you.

text by Rasa Tsuda. Interviewed on April 8th, 2013.

Exhibition info
Date: March 27- April 8, 2013
Place: 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo
Website: http://www.tomiokoyamagallery.com/exhibitions_en/yutakawatanabe-exhibition-8tkg-2013_en/

Sandwich factory renovated into an artist studio

Kohei Nawa talked about his studio "SANDWICH" which opened 4 years ago. He renovated an old sandwich factory into a large studio space all by himself with his friends. Since some of them had other jobs on weekdays, they spent weekends to plan and renovate the studio. They didn't even have a toilet, air conditioner or gas at the beginning.

The studio was first used to create art works but after they officially started up the studio as SANDWICH they also began to use the space to photo shoot Nawa's work or to plan the exhibition presentations. The foundation of the current team structure was build up then.

SANDWICH is a place where companies and interns come and go

Nawa said it is now the time to try anything new. There are many companies which visit his studio to show their engineering or materials to be used in his work or presentation. When he was younger, he wrote letters and walked around companies to ask to cooperate with his work, but nowadays, companies are visiting him.

The studio is not equipped with large mechanics but they would borrow it from outside facilities according to their need. In this way, they can have an extra space even when the studio is full.

Their techniques are very unique, so that his work could only be created at his studio. Nawa and his staff work hard to think of a better way to create a work and to maintain the quality. Even for a project in a small island where there is not enough materials, they think hard to get through any difficulties.

Compared to ULTRA factory led by Kenji Yanobe which is a studio for students at Kyoto University of Art and Design, SANDWICH is placed outside of the university. He aims to have connections with the society openly.

They accept interns from all over the world and fully utilize the residence program. The advantage of working at SANDWICH is that they can ask any technical questions to the staffs.

Team built up on human relationships

Nawa said he struggled how to manage the studio especially in the days before he moved to SANDWICH. He read many books about management and created operational schedules although it didn't work well since he needed to instruct staffs most of the time. Later, he found that it is more easier to depend on people's relationships.

Artists go around the studios all around the world

As Nawa is a sculptor, he thinks technical staffs, materials and machnies are the core elements of the studio. And he suggested that it may be another idea that the artist him/herself becomes the transferable existence which moves around the studios all around the world. The world where artist brings the ideas and collaborates with local techniques.

Newly born studio "Studio Kodai"

Studio Kodai is a space opened by several young artists including Yusuke Komuta and Naoki Tomita last November. They had a concern that there is no space to work for the artist after graduating college.

Achievement could be realized in a long term instead of the years only in the college. In addition to that, there is no space where artists could get together. Most of them work alone. Tomita said he used to work by himself in his own studio but found that his life gets disconnected to the society unless he goes out intentionally and that was a crucial problem for him.

Many painters including Daisuke Ohba have their own spaces in "Studio Kodai". Painter's working spaces are physically closed so that they can concentrate on their works. Beside those creation spaces, there is a comunity space where residency artists can get together and talk. And that space is giving a value as they work as a community.

After listening to the structure of Studio Kodai, Nawa said that although it seems to be a closed working space so far, he thinks it will gradually be more open. In some point, they will start to think about the position of Kodai in the society and it will become a more opened space, just like how art develops.

I was surprised to know how SANDWICH has developed their own techniques and manages it to keep up the quality. It is just like a company works with many professionals. In addition to using manufacturing techniques aiming for the effective society, artist can change them into another object to allure people. "Artist studio" must be a space to see materials or technology from another aspect with brilliant ideas.

Text by Rasa Tsuda

Event info
Title: Artist studios today
Date: March 23, 2013
Place: G-Tokyo
Website: http://www.gtokyo-art.com/2013/eng/events.html

Collaged papers colored with printing techniques

-Can you tell us about how you create your work?

I don't put colors directly on the canvas but cut out colored papers and bring them all together on the canvas. The paper I use is the one used for repairing print works. It is really thin and half transparent.

For example, in this part (above), I put a color on a plate and cover it with a very thin paper so that the color will transfer to paper. That is a technique brought from printing. Then, I cut out the paper and placed it on this large canvas.

-"Breathing at rest with tears behind" was created in a same composition but a different colors. Why is that?

In my process, I use forms to cut out paper sheets which are in the same size as the final one. So technically, I can make exactly the same work by using those forms repeatedly. On the other hand, I majored lithograph in my college and that experience influenced me to create two same works. I wanted to create original work and not as an edition.

-Although you majored lithograph, why did you start to cut out papers?

It may sound weird but I found myself not good at printing, hahaha. After flipping over the printed sheet, I noticed that I had prepared the original pattern in an opposite direction. Planning printings in mirror symmetry was hard for me. So, I made up my mind to work closely to myself.

-"Closely" means that you wanted to see how your work is like throughout the process?

Yes, however, I liked to use the tools and enjoyed the steps of printing. I wanted to work more directly but I didn't want to leave printing methods and go back to painting which I did until majoring lithograph.

-How was printing different from painting?

In printing, there is no lively vividness which painting usually has. Printing is more flat. There is a distance between the viewer and the work. I like the distance that the printing method has.

-When I first looked from apart, I thought this part (above) is a black water color penetrating into the paper. But it actually consists of black torn papers!

Right. I use many kinds of paper in my work. The character of fibers differs on each paper.

-There are sensitive hand drawings in some part of your work.

I draw these drawings in the end. It is more like working with my intuition compared to the other processes. It is important to consider how the work looks from far apart especially in a large work but I also wanted to make a part which you can enjoy when you get close.

I try to change the impression which the viewer will have when they see from apart and get closer.

Each butterfly has a detailed appearance or character in my mind

-Can you tell us about these butterfly drawings?

These are prepartions for the large work. Each butterfly in the large work has a detailed appearance or character in my mind. Every butterfly was first drawn like this. Among the three, the one on the right side can be seen in the large work. There are 23 types of butterflies in the large work  and each drawing was exhibited at the exhibition. I used to draw these sketches just for myself but this time I made it up as my drawing work by organizing it in one frame.

-Is it all hand drawn? It looks like a copy since it looks exactly the same.

Yes, it is all drawn by myself with a pencil. I draw it on a very thin paper so I can trace the first butterfly to draw the next and re-shape or color it.

This butterfly (above) was drawn when I was thinking about this year's animal symbol which was snake, during the new year season.

-What are those characters like?

It is like; one butterfly is thinking "I want to go away" while another thinks "I want to stay here" or "where should I go?"

-How did it come from? Can I ask what you were thinking when you were working on this work?

I was thinking about connections or relations deeply at that time.

I think it could be seen in any generations, but there are some unprepared relations in our life. For example, someone may know your phone number unexpectedly or you can be connected to anyone through the internet unconsciously. The information which looked like a beautiful one may suddenly become colorless or valueless.

We are all captured in the web unconsciously and hard to get out of it. In the black and white version, one bird has flown away (above). There is a blank left in that space. I let it released from the connections.

Animals and plants don't speak. They may be going ahead.

-Why are there many animals and plants in your work?

I think it's because they don't speak. Human beings have the largest brain along the evolution and communicate with language. From my point of view, animals chose not to have languages. They don't need a language which we still need. They may be going ahead of us.

Animals have many abilities which human beings don't have. I simply like the animals which can fly since I can't. I admire the one who has the abilities which I don't have.

Responsibility matters to work as an artist

-How did you get interest in art?

I guess my experience in my childhood was important. There were many sketches drawn by my father placed in the shelf. I was really moved by seeing them and dreamed to draw like that.

After entering the art college, I was lucky to be surrounded by my great colleagues. They were eagerly thinking about art and I felt ashamed of myself just drawing for myself without any deep thoughts. Then, I start to work more seriously.

-What is different for you to be as an artist from just creating art?

Responsibility matters to me. Nowadays, it is easy to express one's word on the internet. Compared to internet, books are published by going through the checking and screening process. I enjoyed those words coming out with full responsibility. To do something with my name contains responsibility. There are many people including gallery staffs help me out to show my works. That is why I thought I should work seriously.

While I was in college, I used to work only with my intuition. After considering to be a professional, I start to think of the structures or compositions much deeper as well as using my senses.

-We can see your responsibility through your hard work. Thank you for your time.

Exhibition info
Date: March 6 - 25, 2013
Place: 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo
Website: http://www.tomiokoyamagallery.com/exhibitions_en/yuko-someya-exhibition-8tkg-2013_en/

Developed from traditional techniques

- Bright colors are impressive. What made you to use these colors?

I simply love bright colors. I love Northern European furniture and London's tube (underground metro system) of their colors. Signatures or sheets of the London underground system are very bright and use only strong and radiant colors. Working with this kind of colors makes me feel good and the emotions that come from this kind of creation make people and me feel very joyful.

In addition to that, I wanted to add some heartfelt creation in my work. I love Northern European designs but I thought it would be interesting to add some hand-made feelings. That is how I gradually developed my style.

In traditional Japanese ceramics, bright colors were used to decorate or draw a figure on ceramics as an accent. Using bright colors on the entire ceramics has never been done before.

One old American ceramic artist who used to know the maestro Shoji Hamada, said to me that my work is "simple". I was surprised since I haven't been said like that before. She praised me as she was shocked to see how simply I use colors in my work and that was something she had never seen before. Colors are usually used to decorate ceramics but I used it on the entire surface. She praised it as a simple and succinct idea.

-Metallic colors are also interesting to be used in ceramic.

The gold part is colored by using the same method as European ceramic does, such as handles of Wedge-wood's cups. There are some traditional methods to use gold in Japan as well, but the gold color is not glittering compared to the European one. I wanted to use a glittering gold in my work.

Beside of being just colorful, I fundamentally aim to create a work which the viewer feels "something" from it. I want them to lean in to see my work questioning "What's this?!".

-How did you get an idea of these cracks?

I love traditional ceramics and visited the exhibition by Toyozo Arakawa who is a national living treasure in Japan and famous for his techniques of Shino-yu (technique to put thick white glaze covered on the surface of ceramics). At the exhibition, there was a water vase created by using Shino-yu technique. When I saw that work, I found its edge was slightly coming off. I got deeply interested in that part and decided to try Shino-yu in my work.

As I worked on, I covered the glaze thicker and thicker. There are many works using the same glaze in the past, but mine is specially thick.

Enjoy the happenstance brought from nature

-Why did you choose ceramics as your medium?

I chose ceramics since I don't have to plan precisely in the beginning like designing products. It has more freedom to change ideas and create a shape with my intuition. I thought that process suits to my personality.

I was apprenticed to Mr. Susumu Zaima and got addicted to ceramics. I didn't even know the differences of each materials in the beginning and my works were similar to my master's. However, gradually, I start to think of combining what I like and my techniques to develop my own work.

Ceramics can't be created as I planed first and that is the interesting part. Glazes will crack and stones will be broken unexpectedly. On the other hand, there is a way to see that unexpected happenstance as an accent of the work.

-How were your influenced by your master, especially?

My master was living a slow life in a calm rural area. Sometimes, he said "Let's go to a cafe and have some coffee." After a cup of coffee, we got ashes from the stove of the cafe and bring it back to blend it into our glaze. We brought stones from a mountain all by ourselves.

Those experiences influenced me a lot. I was surprised to see how the material that I got changed its appreance. It is boring to see an expected result. I enjoy the happentance brought from nature.

Close up look of a stone in "Red-slipped stone-burst washtub" by Takuro Kuwata

-This work (above) is interesting. Is it a stone?

The center part is a stone. When it's fired in a kiln under a very high temperature, the stone swells. If you put it for a longer time, it cracks. How the stone swells or cracks differs from stone to stone. And that's really exciting to me.

I take it out from the kiln when it swelled. But actually, I can't visually see it from the outside of the kiln which has no window. I guess it from the temperature and my experience. Even the stone looks like the one I fired before, some stones have different internal compositions and it ends up with an unexpected result. Sometimes, I fired too much and broken stones flied apart inside the kiln.

-Is it common to include a stone in a ceramic work?

There is a technique called "ishi-haze". It originally happened as an accident that a little stone included in a ceramic work unconsciously. The old tea ceremonist saw that stone as an interesting accent in the work. Then, "ishi-haze" became one of the traditional techniques. When I was in college, I found how interesting the stone changes when it is fired. I started to fire small stones to see how they will change in my work. Then, I started to use larger stones.

Moreover, I like to put stones in my work since it gives a feeling of strangeness. A stone is placed on this tea cup which is has a purpose to use for drinking. People may say "Why is it placed here?!" I like to provide that kind of surprise.

In addition to that, I like the feeling of nature or in other words, the nature's energy that can be felt. The energy of a stone.

Learning from many experiments and exaggerating its feature

-How do you differentiate your larger works to the smaller ones?

Smaller pieces usually have a purpose to be used such as tea cups or vases and I try to put a strange sense in it. On the other hand, for the larger pieces, I play with the features of glazes and stones by exaggerating them. I get ideas when I am working on smaller pieces and bring it into a larger piece, sometimes, vice versa.

- I've heard that you listen to music when you work.

Yes, some time ago I did, but now I don't anymore. When I did, I wanted the music to push my back to concentrate in creation. I listened mostly to Hip Hop and R n' B, because when I was younger, I did a lot of street dancing.

-How do you come up with these great new ideas?

Ceramics are unpredictable. It's hard to expect how it will be like until I take it out from the kiln. Fundamental features of each glaze can be learned from traditional lessons. I develop each glaze's characters by changing the conditions such as the temperature or the amount of combinations. I learn how each glaze will behave under a new condition. Color changes and stones crack unexpectedly. I remember each result and put them in my idea box. Then, I mix up each features in my new work.

-When you made several bowls with the same method, how do you judge whether it is good or bad?

Sometimes, ten works out of ten are good while only one out of ten made me satisfied.

I think I choose the work with my intuition. It may be similar to what you choose for your lunch today. But I try to think of why I chose it afterwards. It is important to know what I cared at that moment.

Even if it looked not good, I don't throw it away, put time and review it later on since it sometimes gives me an idea for a new work.

Exhibition space is also related to what I choose as an appropriate work. For example, more winding work may match to some specific places.

-Your works are perfectly fitting in this gallery space. Looking forward to seeing how your works will develop in the future.

His work is bright and happy and it radiates the joy not only of the product, ceramic itself but also the joy of making it. His idea of art is very unique and interesting, mostly because he focuses on what kind of energy and emotion the art radiates and he tries to accomplish this with the usage of different natural materials. The simplistic and natural look is what he mostly what he is tending towards.

Interviewed on Feb 7th 2013, text by Katja Šifkovič.

Exhibition info
Date: Feb 6-18, 2013
Place: 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery , Tokyo
Website: http://www.hikarie8.com/artgallery/2012/12/TakuroKuwata.shtml

Subconscious "shadow" in the human mind.

Q. What does the exhibition title "There" implicate?

I wanted to create a distance between the viewer and the space inside my work. "There" is a space where the viewer can place their "shadows". Therefore, I used a new technique in this series to emphasize the spatial depth spread inside of my work. I created a space where the viewers can mentally transfer themselves.

Q. What do you mean by "shadow"?

I was inspired by a book titled "A Phenomenology of Shadows" written by Hayao Kawai who is a Jungian psychologist. Human beings don't consist of visible characters but of invisible characters hidden under pressure. Even someone who looks calm and composed, is not just that. He or she must have a violent character too. Kawai calls this hidden or pressured unseen part of a human being, a "shadow".

There are some tragic murders executed by people who look calm. I got interested in that shadow part of human beings and wanted to create works that made people conscious of their own shadows.

In paticular, the "There" series is a kind of device that gives the viewers an opportunity to notice their shadows.

Changing from staging a scenery to cutting out a scenery

Q. How has your expression of "shadows" in this exhibition changed compared to your previous work?

I have actually been working on this subject for the last ten years. In the "tune" series, I created a photograph with a girl moving in the woods. The girl was an object on which viewers could put their "shadows".

"Tune" had two part in the work when the lighter part represents the visible image, the other darker part represents the invisible image. But at some moment, it flips over and the invisible part turned into a visible part. For example, it just like when you are dreaming. You see your subconscious invisible image instead of the physical visible image.

I don't consider the visible part superior to the invisible part. They are simply equal. But I tend to see the invisible part as a negative part of human beings.

I set up the image by first deciding what kind of girl to use and what kind of place to use as the stage. But in my latest series "There", there is no strict staging, but I cut out the scenery from places where I actually walked by. While I was working on this project, I saw many walls and pillars and imagined how it would look if I symmetrized them and was excited to find a good one.

Fluctuation in the photograph

-Why do you use lenticular lenses in your work?

In my early career, I wanted to capture the width of time in my work. Photography is a media used to capture one moment but I wanted to show the time before and after that moment. That is why I started to work with reticular lenses. I could include consecutive images in one work.

But in the "There" series, I used it as a technique to create depth in the image. There are 3 images used in this work. One is the original image I took and copied symmetrically, the other two are manipulated from the original image as it looks altered in the middle to emphasize the work's depth. It is a different technique from using 3 perspectives to capture one object and creating a 3D image.

-This work (above) is not a lenticular lens work but still has depth.

This work is made of a light box simply lighting the photography from the back. It is like a place where the "shadow" will be lightened.

Trade secrets
Unlike other artists who were eager to be in Paris, Nagashima happened to have a chance to live there. Comparing herself to others, she is self-critical for not pushing herself aggressively and enjoying the party to grab any chance. However, she never felt like returning to Japan during her stay in Paris. She enjoyed the diversity of foreign cultures ranging from Eastern European to Chinese.  It seems like she discovered her own "shadow" character through her life in Paris.

interviewed on Nov 1, 2012, by Rasa Tsuda.

Exhibition info
title:THERE
date: Nov 1 - 22, 2012
Place: Gallery 360 degrees
Address: 5-1-27-2F, Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo Japan
Website: http://www.360.co.jp/j/exhibition.html

White board as a new medium

-Although you were majored in oil painting, how did you come up with your style, drawing manga on white boards?

I used to draw paintings in-between figurative and abstract in my early career. However, in 2005, I wrote my PhD report and had a chance to look back on what I was truly influenced by in my life. Since I was little, I love to read and draw manga. Takano Fumiko is one of my favorite cartoonists. Her way of depicting the scene is interesting. How the angle changes from frame to frame was just like a movie.

Another typical feature of manga, especially in girls' comic is that the words which characters thought in their mind but not vocally are written in the frame. I found that many words come into my mind when I'm drawing a painting and wanted to bring them on the canvas directly.

I've just drawn manga to show it to my friends and worked on paintings until that time. But gradually, I started to try bringing manga features into my work. However, I didn't have confidence to show it publicly.

-When was your first chance to show manga style works openly?

10 years ago, an exhibition organizer who used to know about my manga, happened to know about my paintings as well. He suggested me to join an exhibition bringing manga as my art works.

The exhibition was for the memorial day of World War 2 held every year. As this exhibition aimed to convey a message to others, I decided to use a white board since it is used as a medium to tell a message to someone. For example, people use it in an office for project presentations and messages can be erased and rewritten again. It was my first time that I considered to use white boards for my work, drawing a manga on it with my ideas brought from my daily life. White boards are simply beautiful too. Those are the main reasons why I decided to use white boards for my work.

-So at that time,you made yourself understood to show your new ideas?

Yes, kind of. When I was asked to join the exhibition I remember that I was very anxious. I thought that this new way of painting may not be that interesting for the viewer. But on the other hand, I really wanted to try something new. It was kind of a dilemma to me which made me even more dubious about my work. Despite my concerns, viewers simply accepted my works. And I could convince myself to work in this style.

Playing with opposition

-It is interesting that you use magnets in your work.

I wanted to create an illusion to the viewer's eyes. I drew a cliff with a black permanent marker and created a waterfall with magnets in this work (above, "waterfall"). Although it's a bunch of magnets, it looks like a waterfall in our eyes. Another interesting part of using magnets is that it gives us a sense of surface. Wire mesh fence is drawn in this work (below, "inside/outside") and viewers will feel a space behind. But by putting magnets randomly on its surface, viewer's eyes recognize its surface and flatness. I'm playing with that effect. In addition to that, I think it is a "moving painting" in some ways, which gives a new possibility to painting.

-Your work has a sense of humour. Where does it come from?

I think it comes from my favorite manga. I want to entertain people or surprise people with my work. Also, things that show up in my everyday life are the most important crucial hints for my inspiration. I write down when I get ideas to remember it.

I include a dichotomy between the two, like a pair of opposite words. For example, this one is depicting an escalator which goes up when the other one goes down. What you see as you go up or go down with an escalator is quite different. A man is saying "A woman!" in this work while a woman is saying "A man...?!" in the other one. The situation behind these scenes we imagine are quite different. Displaying these pair of works side by side, I want to express that one is not on an equal footing with the other or but is in a completely different situation.

-Congratulations of winning the prize at "Art In The Office" (Art competition organized by Monex (online securities company) and AIT (Art initiative Tokyo). Why did you apply for that competition?

It sounded interesting to show contemporary art in an office. My work is drawn on white board and that will be fun to be exhibited at a work place where white boards are used as a its original function. The competition also required to work with their employees. So I held a little workshop for them.

I handed them a sheet of paper with an unfinished manga, asking them to complete it by drawing, adding words and putting a title on their own. They presented their own manga in front of others and I got lots of inspiration from them. This experience gave me ideas to my creation and I could bring my new artworks to their office in the end. It was an exciting moment that I ever had.

- Thank you for your time. We are looking forward to seeing your new entertaining work.

interviewed on Feb 5 2013, text by Stefanie Muehlberger

Exhibition information
Date: Jan 19 - Feb 16, 2013
Place: Yamamoto Gendai
Website: http://yamamotogendai.org/english/exhibition/2013/fukushi.html

The scenery shines in my eyes

-How did you get interested in painting?

I liked to draw since I was little. I lived in a rural area where few people were around. So I liked to play by myself. Drawing was one of those.

I got to know there is an art college when I was in high school. I thought I want to challenge and enter an art cram school. I knew about oil painting after that. Choosing that method was only natural, without deep consideration.

-How do you choose the scenery you depict?

It is usually a place where I always pass by. At one moment, I feel that the scenery is shining in my eyes. It might be depending on how the sun or light is actually illuminating the place. But I feel like the scenery burned into my brain. Just like a photograph.

-How is that moment like?

Hmm,,, I don't remember how my emotion is like at that moment, maybe calm... Sometimes, I see everything nice. I think everybody has that sense.

-Do you look for the scenery consciously?

I'm always searching for it. Watching outside, when I'm on a train. I like to see houses.

Sometimes, I feel depressed for finding nothing for a while. There is no method to get through that situation. I just wait until it comes.

-You often depict spring in your work but do you like that season?

I like winter actually. Although, I don't draw that much about it. I don't like summer, too hot, hahaha.

So the season you like and the season you get ideas are different.

Ah, right. I usually draw a beginning of spring. In summer, everything is glaring or garish. I don't know how to express that colour. Everything is in strong green and all green looks the same.

Reconstructing the scenery in my mind

-Do you draw on a canvas as soon as you find the scenery?

I give some time and cherish the scenery. I start thinking of how to paint it or how the size should be like. I reconstruct it in my mind by cutting or pasting the elements. Compared to photograph, painting has a freedom to reconstruct it.

There are usually 2 to 3 images in my mind and I am always thinking about them.

"Moon landing" was the scene that I saw last summer and started paint this year, half a year later. It took too much time.

- It is interesting that some part of your painting looks unpainted.

One canvas consists of three types of layers. Some parts are in one layer, the others are in two or three layers. I thought it is fun to have many expressions.

- Do you first plan how to construct the layers of a painting?

Not really. I don't plan precisely in the beginning. But it is more like ending up in that way. In a large painting, there are some part which is completely unpainted. It is simply fun to do so.

-How do you spend your days when you are working on a painting?

Once I start working, I stay at my studio. I can't leave there even when it's hard to paint. I finish one large painting in 7 to 10 days. Except the small works, I work on one piece at a time.

Not about good or bad but what I like and care

-This girl (image above) is wearing a funny hat.

When I was a child, I thought it should be fun to have an animal staying on my head. I could be with it all the time.

I saw animations of "Heidi, Girl of the Alps" (1974) and "Little Princess Sarah"(1985) from the series of World Masterpiece Theater (TV animation program based on classic tales from around the world) in my childhood. Those central characters were always with an animal. That was my ideal.

So I put my cat on my head, told by others that I will lose my hair, hahaha. However, the cat didn't stay with me. When I saw a girl wearing this hat in a town recently, it reminded me of that memory.

-How about those penguins?

I won a ticket of an aquarium in Shizuoka and visited there with my parents. My parents were watching a dolphin show. The dolphin's purity and braveness stroke my heart. I couldn't stand watching it. So I moved out to see penguins which were just near by the show.

Penguins didn't look poor to my eyes. It was time for feeding. Penguins were making a line in front of a breeding staff. When the one was fed, it was moved aside from the line. But they looked satisfied and their faces were happy.

Dolphins were swimming in a small pool right next to the ocean. It may not be a bad thing since they get food at the aquarium. I don't know what is poor and what is not.

-Is there a memory behind "Eyewitness testimony"?

This was a place where I always walked as a junior high school student. I didn't know the name of the flower but I liked it. It blooms in the rainy season and falls down in a short term.

There was a large house near this place although it was quiet and looked lonely. I remember that I felt anxious at that time.

-Plants and nature often comes into your work but cut flowers are not seen.

I feel uncomfortable with cut flowers. They are like wastes to be thrown away, too well-managed or artificial to me.

It's not about good or bad. It is simply about what I like or dislike, what I care or not.

-Unlike other paintings, these two works are on paper and the seasons are in winter.

These are the begging of winter. Plants died down and lightened by the sun.

I wanted to express the rough texture and pell-mell atmosphere. I couldn't get an idea of how to express it on a canvas. Paper's surface matched to express that rough texture.

These two drawings are depicting the same place. In this one, I felt like as if the plants are talking each other and the girl is listening. This place used to be a restaurant chain store.

-As you told me about the lonely house or the site of a former restaurant, you look interested in the place which is quiet although it is usually a place filled with sounds.

I may be attracted by the place where I feel as if something is existing or the place as if I can hear  something.

-Why do you put a girl in your painting?

I wanted to put an emotion in my painting. There is no story or narrative in it. But when I am working on my painting, a story automatically comes up in my mind.

-What the reason for you to depict your memory on a canvas?

Hmm, I wonder myself why that is..  Maybe I want to organize or coordinate it.

-Thank you for sharing your memories with us.

Through the interview, Kudo shared her memory behind the paintings little by little. Her works recalled her personal memories of what she did in her childhood or what she felt uncomfortable about. However, even without knowing her personal memories on each works, the viewer can dive into the work with their own memories. What you feel depends on what you have experienced in your life. Her painting opens your inner sense, not quickly but gradually, assisting you to know who you are.

Interviewed on Feb 4, 2013. Text by Rasa Tsuda

Exhibition Info
Date: Jan16, 2013 - Feb 4, 2013
Place: 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery
Website: http://www.tomiokoyamagallery.com/exhibitions/makikokudo-exhibition-8tkg-2012/

Just like a new world widely opened up for you.

-How were you attracted by contemporary art?

When I was a junior high school student, my friend showed me a catalogue of Jasper Jones, whose work was completely over my head. Although I couldn't understand his works, it attracted me. At that time, reading a heavy novel or seeing a difficult movie and play were hip and happening things to do.

I visited Hara museum to see Raynaud, Jean-Pierre's work. The places where I can see the physical contemporary art work were limited. Others were Seibu museum and some commercial galleries.

-Why was it interesting to see difficult works？

When you can't understand the work, you learn about it through books. And gradually, you got to know what the artist is expressing. It is just like a new world widely opened up for you.

As I start to learn about the artists' background or history, a map has built up in my mind. "This artist is trying this method." or "The point of the artist is this." This is my own map and it is not nessesarary to include famous artist. There are well-known artists whom I am not interested in anywhere in the world.

Even you face a famous artist, it is imporatant to have a critical eye and see the work detachedly. "Is it really interesting?" I often ask myself. I think everyone has their own senses. Some will express that sense as "I prefer Julian Schnabel to Anselm Kiefer." Despite Kiefer was financially successful than Schnabel, it is important to have your own preference in art.

-Were you only interested in Western contemporary art at that time?

I was not only interested in the Western contemporary art but also in Nihon-ga (traditional Japanese painting) or ceramics, without any boundaries in my mind. So it is really connected with what I am doing right now. Interesting painting must be existing in any country, any time. There is no definition for what painting should be like.

Many kinds of phenomenons happened or are happening in each time, all around the world. Artists did or are doing what they find interesting at that moment. It is seen as an exciting art when the work is successfully created with a great idea and techniques. Great work could be created any where at any time in the history.

Instead of disliking Chinese contemporary art, I believe there must be an interesting work among them. There must be something fitting to me. I don' have a biased view.

I did what others didn't. There is no meaning to do the same.

-Why did you decide to open your own gallery?

In the middle of 90s, other galleries were showing older artists. I opened my own gallery to show the artists who were in the same generation (around 33 years old) such as Yoshitomo Nara, Takashi Murakashi and Chiezo Taro.

There were many artists who were working on Abstract art or defining the techniques of art in the 90s of Japan. However, Abstract art originally happened in the 70s, New York and they were just following it. There is no reality for our generation to do the same thing. "What is reality to us?" That is contemporary art.

Nara's artwork is dealing with an emotional part which allows you to put your emotions in it. Emphatic work is not much seen in the Western paintings except Edvard Munch or Otto Dicks. I think it is more likely to be rooted in the Japanese art history such as Shunsuke Matsumoto.

-How was the early stage of your gallery?

Opening the gallery in April (1996), I flied to Los Angles in December to join an art fair named Grammacy Art Fair, which is the predecessor fair of the Armory Show (New York). It was organized by 5 young New York gallerists including Mathew Marks. Artist, Dan Asher introduced me about the fair. The fair was held at Los Angels, Miami and New York, all at a hotel. Hotel Vermot in Los Angels were all suite rooms and the participating galleries used each room to show their works. In the now, they are all famous gallery but White cube, Mathew Marks, Jeffrey Deitch were all at the fair. They were young and seeking for a space to show their works.

Since there wasn't enough interesting art fairs in Los Angels at that time, many collectors stopped by the small indies fair. I remember that Peter Norton bought Murakami's small painting at $2,000 at the fair.

I went abroad since there was no other Japanese galleries there. I could be a special existence. That's nice, isn't it? At that time, other Japanese galleries were more interested in showing in a prestigious space instead of a indies fair. Importing foreign artists to Japan or showing well-known Japanese artist inside of Japan, was what others did. I did what others didn't. There is no meaning to do the same.

-How do you choose the representing artist?

Friends, favorite movies, music or part-time job, many things have influenced you to be yourself. Human beings are all inputting something. Artists are the people who create an output with it. What and how you catch the inner side of yourself is important. It is often said but, for example, Takashi Murakami adviced the artist, Mr. to pull out his inner otaku element into his work. I do not advice to my artists like that but there are some artists who can do it by themselves.

But knowing what is inside of yourself is not enough. Techniques are also required. Even if you have a great idea, there is no meaning if you couldn't put it on a canvas.

-What do you care when you show a young artist?

If the artist do the first exhibition at the age of 24, his/her works were brought from the 24 years of his/her history. As we plan to hold a show for every 2-3 years, the next exhibition will be a big pressure for the artist since 3 years compared to 24 years is a huge gap. There are some artists who can develop their expression in that 3 years when others can't. I consider to hold the first show after the age of 27 since they get matured.

It is not an end by showing the artist just once. We hold exhibitions every 2-3 years to show the change of the artist. Watching how the artist has developed is also the interesting part of art. We want to tell that point through our gallery.

What I often see is the artist whose ideas go forehead too much or just following the authority. That is not good. This may be a weird example but, there are some people who say that war is not good. It is not good to kill people, obviously. That is easy to say. But if you are forced to be at that situation, I doubt that whether the one can say the same thing. It is important to put your foot in their shoes. Good and bad, both are included in our lives. I don't like the work which is just suggesting the "right" thing to others. That is lacking a sense of ownership.

We need to evaluate Japanese art by our selves.

- How do you see the last ten years in Japan?

Information of art is flooding. Many magazines from culture to hobby are writing about art. It is not seen in New York where art is only written on a magazine specialized in art. There are many spaces to see contemporary art in Japan including a department store, just like our new gallery space opened in Hikarie (a new department store including clothing shops, theater and restaurants, opened right next to the Shibuya station in 2012). Although when it comes to collecting art, there are still obstacles.

Before the WWII, there were active private collectors whose collections can be seen at Nezu museum, Matsukata museum and Ohara Museum.

Public museums were active after the WWII (in 1945) until the economic bubble burst (in 1991-93). Public museums were playing a large roll in the art market. They were collecting art works including the Western paintings, instead of private collectors except the ones who bought art as an asset. Public collection may be the one of the reasons of why Japanese people inclined not to buy art privately.

-What is needed to bring people back to buy art?

Art fair is a place to see what is happening in the art world now. Auction is a place to see how the works are priced. We also need a critical part in the market. There is no educational part in art fairs or auction houses.

For example, German museums show young artists and American curators buy young artists's work or ask a collector to donate young artist's work to their museums. They try to build up young artists value by themselves. When it comes to Japan, what I often hear is that it is difficult for a museum to buy a work whose value is not stable yet. One artist was asked to hold an exhibition abroad to be acquired. Japanese must have our own system to evaluate our art. Things are getting better these days, though.

-Buying art and seeing art are unrelated action in Japan.

There are some magazines which suggests the reader to choose an artwork within 100,000yen (=$1100). I don't like that approach. I don't want people to buy art with a budget. It is better that when you visit an exhibition, you can know the price and the place to buy.

Not only selling printed editions, but there should be an information of its original painting's price or who are collecting the artist's works.

-Why did you decide to open new brunches in Hikarie (Shibuya) and Singapore?

There must be a Japanese way of selling art. Gallery space should be accessible. We should show the prices explicitly and provide a chance to meet the artist. We got new collectors by holding exhibitions of Damien Hirst or David Lynch here (Hikarie).

Regarding to Singapore, we also need to reach Asian market. I want to sell young Japanese artists at that space. There will be a museum opening in the near future right next to our space. There are galleries from Korea, Filliping and also Singapore. Filipino travelers go to Filipino gallery and they also come to our place as well. Many business managers come to buy art. These are interesting parts of the Singapore brunch.

-Sounds like a exciting future is waiting. Thank you for your time.

Interviewed on Jan 29, 2013. Text by Rasa Tsuda

	Tomio Koyama Gallery address: 1-3-2-7F Kiyosumi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan 135-0024 website: www.tomiokoyamagallery.com/

Painting without stories that evoke stories in viewers' minds

- Your paintings evoke picture books and seem to tell stories.

I don't have a specific story or a setting in mind when I begin painting. But I think surrounding environments influence my work, even if I'm not conscious about it, and they show up in my work. I'm not painting abstract objects, but real things and living beings that actually exist or could exist. When depicting such subjects, they have to have a context, relations within the painting, so they create a story on the canvas. But I don't draw a person in a particular way in a particular place for a particular purpose. I try not to limit myself, and move around these subjects, and hope that my audience will compose their own stories in my paintings.

Sometimes, I do have my own reasons for painting, for example, this lion/girl figure ("I pass over water, and pass over water again/ I look at the flowers, and look at the flowers again"). I had a reason for painting it, but its significance changed for me as time progressed. After I finish a painting, it leaves my hands, so I find new discoveries in them as well. It's almost like it's not my work. This painting (lion/girl) holds a lot of that. I started with a very vague idea of something dancing in the fog. But it's not like I had a specific story that led to this image. Details appear as I work. Like its (lion/girl's) facial expression, which you can't tell if it's happy or sad.

- Your paintings appear very bright and colorful, but they have an elusive quality as well.

My paintings trigger different reactions from people, who in turn conjure original images in their own minds. I think this is a form of communication. It's strange--my paintings can influence people and develop into original ideas in their own minds, but they still originated from me. That's not the main purpose of my paintings, but it's a way of connecting with people.

Paintings that simply appear from shapes, colors and words

- How do you start your paintings?

Seasons and my surroundings influence me. But I don't know if anything in particular sets me off to start painting. I rarely start a painting with a specific image in mind. I usually have abstract paintings of backgrounds and sketches with different colors prepared, and they lie around for a while until I see something there, like I see a person. This one ("Leviathan"), it was just a brush stroke left from when I was painting the background, which eventually turned into this tail.

For "Orchestra Under the Water," I actually had a picture in mind before I began. This one may have started with the words, which ended up being its title. I thought up the words first, and imagined an orchestra under the sea. It was also around the time a new aquarium opened by the Kyoto train station, so I went to do some sketches. But usually I don't start off thinking, "this is what I'm going to paint."

Everyday inspiration from plants, animals, novels and films

- Nature seems to be a main motif in your paintings.

I like painting natural subjects. If I'm going to paint, I might as well paint something I like. Plants are just there, they just exist, and I think paintings develop through the observation of natural subjects. And I learn from nature as well. It's difficult to say why I like natural subjects, but I think it's something that's at the core of my work. If I'm taking a walk in a forest, I often do think up of paintings. But I'm still struggling with depicting fish.

- What else inspires you?

I like reading books, especially novels. I also get a lot from films. I recently saw Toto the Hero by Jaco Van Dormael, which was really good. It recently came out on DVD. I like the way the film depicted sadness and death, in a sort of detached way. It was not over-sentimental. This painting ("The Castle") was also from a scene in a movie. The scene impressed me so much that I had to pause the film.

Universal paintings that are both Japanese and western

- You've spent some time in Vienna. What kind of reactions did your receive in Vienna?

When I was in Vienna, people told me that my paintings were very Japanese. I don't know what they meant--maybe the colors I used and the way I depicted people. But in Japan, people--especially those who know I studied abroad--tell me that my paintings are very western. It makes you wonder what "Japanese" and "western" mean. I don't think about universality when I'm painting. But if I dig at my own core, I think it leads to universality, because we're all humans. That's something I felt when I was living abroad.

- How did your time in Vienna influence you?

People didn't know who I was or much about Japan. I was just a girl studying painting. I tried to converse with people in German, but in order to convey what kind of person I was, I had to do it through my paintings. Europeans are very good at communicating, so other students with unfinished paintings were able to convey their concepts and visions orally and do well. I couldn't do that and had no intention of doing that. I had to create something equally or more convincing on canvas.

Expressing emotions without being sentimental

- What's different about this exhibit from past exhibits?

Half the paintings in this exhibit were first shown in Kyoto (Mori Yu Gallery Kyoto, October 5 to November 22, 2012). The other half, the smaller pieces, I painted after the Kyoto exhibit, in the two months since I've moved to Tokyo. Until the Kyoto exhibit, I didn't know which way to go next, but during that exhibit, I was able to choose a direction. Something clicked. When my paintings were laid out in front of me, I knew that this wasn't where I should be, and I was able to move on. It felt like things have finally started to move. I didn't have to think as much, and my hands would paint automatically.

- What was it that you realized in Kyoto?

I decided not to dwell on sentimentality. I want to paint until I'm old; I have to be able to continue painting. In order to do that, I don't want to pursue damp, overtly sentimental images. Instead of seeking sympathy, I realized that I wanted to paint something more detached. I think I became more conscious about continuing to paint for a long time. The newer paintings in this exhibit, I don't think I would have been able to paint them before. Their elements may have existed inside of me, but I don't think I would have been able to paint them. I don't want to express sadness by painting a sad scene.

Lately, I'm not digging and searching within so much. I'm more drawn to connecting with the outside world.

-We're very excited to see where you go next. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today.

Just as her paintings are not as cheerful and simple as they seem at first glance, the title of this exhibit, "Empty forest," is not as literal either. Ozawa explains that for something to be empty, there must be a sense of fullness; it must have boundaries. Though what fills that emptiness depends on the individual. The exhibit's eponymous painting is not exactly "empty" with a clear female subject and bursts of floral splashes and colors. But it strangely captures the void implied in its title as well.

Interviewed on January 12, 2013. Text by Makiko Arima

Exhibition Info
"Empty forest"
Date: December 15, 2012 - February 24, 2013
Place: MORI YU GALLERY
Address: 3331 Arts Chiyoda, 204 6-11-14 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
website: http://www.moriyu-gallery.com

Stripes are stronger than shapes, they destroy the sight.

- Can you tell us why you got interested in using stripes in your work?

Stripes are very strong visible elements. They destroy shapes. If I use only one color for a sculpture, its shape could be more visible. Stripes in my work block our sights' ability to recognize the shapes. In other words, shapes may look meaningless with stripes although it is actually formed in front of the viewer. I simply got interested in that contradiction.

Stripes destroy shapes but moreover, they also hide the texture of the sculpture's surface. As you see the work close up, you will notice its surface is actually rough and has a sensitive face. Although, when you see the sculpture from a distance, the stripes erase those details.

For example, this sculpture has a wide orange color part sandwiched between stripes. In the plain orange part, textures are visible compared to other parts.

-At a first glance, your works look as if they are carved out from a large block. How did you create these sculptures?

I first create a model by carving styrene foam. Then I slice it horizontally, trace each piece on an acrylic plate and cut it out. Finally, I lay one acrylic piece on another to create the same shape as the first.

I try not to create details too much when I am working with a styrene foam. I try not to realize exactly what I want to make. When it looks barely like a bear, for example, it is done. 

For the larger or smaller version of the sculpture, I use a printer to enlarge or scale down each shape of the slice. 

- Layering slices on top of one another sounds like a unique method compared to carving.

It is actually not that special of a method in sculpture history. For example, earthenware is made by layering one round clay on top of another. The huge Buddha sculpture in Nara (Western historical prefecture in Japan) was also created from layering from the bottom up to its head.

I can say that layer-structured sculpture is one of the traditional methods of sculpting along with carving. I am fulfilled with the process using both carving and layering in my work.

By choosing color patterns systematically, unpredictable elements are brought into my work

- How did you come up with the idea of this exhibition "People in a skit" ?

This exhibition "People in a skit" was developed from the idea of the series "Families". It was an installation of colorful human bodies which consisted of a father, mother, daughter and son placed on a wall.

I didn't have the idea of creating about my family at first, but wanted to display various types of identical shapes spread on a wall. To make each shape identical, I came up with the idea of my family, which consists of male and female, young and adult. I thought these four people as a unit.

For this exhibition "People in a skit", I thought about identical forms first and came up with the 5 shapes which are woman with long hair, man with bottle, infant, bear and tree. As I started to work on them, they seemed to look like people who represented each roles as woman, bear or tree for a festival.

They are not actual bears or trees but figures representing them. That is why the exhibition is titled "People in a skit".

When you see one is playing a role of a bear, it can be regarded as a fake bear. But when you see they are enjoying their role in a festival and at some point, their minds are connected with the god individually, and they are real. A contradictory aspect such as realness and fake-ness is included in my work.

‐It is interesting that you come up with a concept while you are creating instead of having it from the beginning.

When I think too much about the concept, it tends to end up creating a work related with the words of the concept, putting a shape to the concept. I start with scribbles and do not create a perfectly shaped model with a styrene foam. That is because I want to leave a room in my work so that I can notice things afterwards. I try not to reach a conclusion after each step and move forward.

‐Is it easier for you to work without thinking of the final concept?

Not really. Sometimes, the concept goes forward and I can imagine what the work will be like in the middle of the process. Knowing what I am creating exactly can be comfortable and reassuring process but it is also dangerous. When you are comfortable, it also means that you are bound by your imagination. Uncertainty is insecurity. You don't know how it will end up but it also means that it contains a lot of possibilities.

I am not satisfied with creating a sculpture by choosing a motif and a medium just as I want. It may fulfill the creator but it tends to end up with an object which is lacking of originality. It doesn't exceed one's imagination.

‐You mean one's imagination itself may limit the creativity?

As I am long experienced with sculptures, I can create whatever I imagine. Techniques are accumulated as you continuously work on them. Sculptors tend to love the medium they use and their expressions are used to be closed and not open to others. Working only with one's techniques could be boring to the audience. To balance this situation, I need something unpredictable and out of my control.

- How did you let something unpredictable happen to your work?

One of my methods is to decide size and color patterns systematically. I created 5 versions of shapes (woman, man, infant, bear, tree) in 4 sizes for this exhibition. That means a total 20 types of sculptures. Beside that, I prepared 5 color patterns: narrow stripes, bold stripes,  one color sanded with stripes, narrow stripes with similar color, and one color with some lines. To choose one color pattern for a sculpture, I created a table and plotted each shape systematically. I neglected my senses which suggested which shapes were suited for each color.

This is the uncontrollable part in my creation. Reaching outside of my own senses and bringing it back to my work. Although color patterns were determined systematically, it is interesting that they started to show their own identities. For example, this one (below) may look like a tree standing at night, although it happened to be like this.

‐Can I ask especially which sculpture was out of your imagination? 

Actually, the bold stripe pattern was something I could barely work with. I felt it was destroying the shape too much. But when I see it in the exhibition space, it holds an important position in the entire installation.

Bold stripes are just one of the uncontrolable elements. The most uncertianty is how the entire installation will look like in the space. Compared to working on a painting, I can't see how the entire installation will be like until I install it. But that is also the exciting part.

-How can you tolerate uncertainty?

Choosing a comfortable option will end up with an unsatisfied result. I learned from my experience. That is why I try not to overcome my anxiety. When I feel overwhelmed, I work on another sculpture and I don't think too much. I am working with my anxiety.

-That is a great lesson for other creative people.

Interviewed on Jan 18, 2013. Text by Rasa Tsuda

Exhibition Info
"People in a Skit"
Date: Dec 8, 2012 - Jan 26, 2013
Place: MA2 Gallery
website: http://www.ma2gallery.com/

Homeless people's houses filled with wisdom

The exhibition is divided in three parts each on one floor. Each floor contains splendiferous practices of how life can take a turn and can be seen from another perspective.

As visitors enter the first part of the exhibition, they would be boomed with all kinds of wall texts, pictures, drawings and sketches of the homeless people's houses which Sakaguchi was inspired by. He called them "0 yen house", meaning that they were built without any expenses. He wrote;

"Architecture is based on the ownership of money and land although I was thinking of another way of housing. Then, I encountered this house when I was walking around."

Sakaguchi was questioning whether there is a way to live without paying to land loaders or any high expenses since that is the most problematic issue for people to work as slavery. He learned from the homeless that people can actually live without owning money or a land.

In one house, car electric accumulator empowers the basic appliances and the rainwater provides water for garden, cooking and showering. In the middle of the first floor there is an actual 0￥ house Sakaguchi built that visitors can enter and explore. It is actually stylish and not like a usual homeless house.

Kyohei Sakaguchi's thoughts are mindful of human life

The second section of the exhibition offers different types of drawings that are representing Sakaguchi's ideas and inspirations. There were also a series of drawing titled "The dream journal" depicting what he dreamed at night. Another series were the sketches of homeless people with descriptions of how they are living.

The last, most important floor shows how all of his ideas are related in his brain. On the entire wall, he drew a "mind map" which is representing how his ideas are connected or how they were born.

One of the reasons why he started a "government" is that the real government could not move quickly to help the people who were living near the Fukushima nuclear power plant after the accident in 201. He felt like there is no government trying to save its citizens in this country. So he started form a government to find a place for them to move out by himself. Although he calls himself as a president, he is not trying to beat against the real government but there could be many governments run by their own perspectives to help people from their view.

In a video message, Sakaguchi tells his phone number (himself, he refers to it as a "hot line") so that anyone who if depressed and has suicidal tendencies can call him at any given moment. His mission is to save people's lives as it is written in the law that ensures a healthy and cultural life to all citizens.

Knowing how much you need for yourself

In one of the descriptions of 0 yen house, Sakaguchi wrote:

"10 bottles of 4 littler water. That is how much they use in a day. Total 40 littler. We don't know "how much" water we acutually use."

Knowing how much we use means knowing how much we need. Self-sufficiency is one of the great ideas of contemporary civilization and can actually help the society to turn its way of life around. Why? One of great problems of our generation is presented by the term "extra" or "too much" - too much paper, too much plastic, too much food, and too much water that we use and throw away every day. All of that produces redundant garbage that takes a lot of space. The careless treatment of our environment is starting to backfire and the ideas, by which you can achieve harmony, are more than welcome.

"The general population doesn`t know what is happening, and it doesn`t even know, that it doesn`t know."

- Noam Chomsky

Nowadays, there aren't a lot of people who understand the lack of knowledge in modern society. Furthermore, one of the important problems that are caused by ignorance is lack of concern for the environment. Nowadays, it seems that "having stuff" will make your life more rich - more important, or even worse, owning objects; capitalist system might make you think you are a better person. You are not. Nature created you. Nature gave you life and place to live. You should respect it and treat it kindly.

text by Katja Šifkovič

Exhibition Info
"Practice for a revolution"
date: Nov 17, 2012 - Feb 3, 2013
place: Watarium museum of Contemporary Art
address: 3-7-6, Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
website: http://www.watarium.co.jp/exhibition/1211sakaguchi/index.html

Express yourself and be a part of Ono's art

When I entered the gallery, I was asked to participate in her works. It was the participation art titled "TIME TO TELL YOUR LOVE". For this work, the gallerist will a picture of you while you were posing in a very special and interesting way with your friends or family whom you came with. Visitors are showing their relation and love by performing in front of a camera.

For the wall "MY MOMMY IS BEAUTIFUL", one can bring a photo of their own mother and then write a short text about her. In this text, visitors can describe about their own mother as well as the experience they shared with their mother.

The important part is that the visitor is asked to think about these questions: "Why is my mother beautiful to me? What does my mother really mean to me? What makes her so special to me?" . And then, it is important to write your thoughts down to make them part of the whole image about why mothers are such important people to us all.

These two participatory works illustrate in a very good way how Yoko Ono's art expresses itself. At first, one can hardly guess what Ono's art wants the visitor to experience. Hence, some may consider her art to be unfinished, maybe not even a piece of art. But the fact is, this type of Ono's work reflects her aspiration that the pieces will be constantly transformed by viewers, either physically or in a purely conceptual way. Also it is important to know and understand that Ono's works are always pervading the themes of love and peace.

"LIGHT HOUSE" revived but still Ono's imagination is far beyond our technology.

Moving to the second section, there is a sparkling light floating in the dark. This work is created by lightening the little three-sided pyramid prism glasses placed in a transparent acryl box. As this work is located in the middle of a dark room, a beautiful and colorful pattern appears and decorates the surrounding walls.

Yoko Ono explains the "LIGHT HOUSE" in the following way:

"The light house is a phantom house that is built by sheer light. You set up prisms at a certain time of day, under a certain evening light that goes through the prisms; the light house appears in the middle of the field like an image. With this image, you can actually go inside, if you want to. The light house may not emerge every day, just as the sun doesn't shine every day."

(Ono 1965, rewritten for Lisson gallery, London 1967).

Close up of the prisms of "LIGHT HOUSE" by Yoko Ono.

According to the gallery owner, the light house in this exhibition is one of several remakes from the original concept of Ono. Ono wrote her concept of the light house in 1965. At this point, she did believe that this concept could become reality one day, but she wasn't completely convinced about that. John Lennon whom she met at Indica Gallery in 1966 was so fascinated by her concept of light house and asked her to build one for him. Although it was technologically impossible to realize it, she decided to re-write her concept for her Lisson Gallery show in London in 1967 and showed this light house.

40 years have passed since then and she decided to show this work again with the new technology. Prisms were cut more precisely and lights are carefully settle below just only to illuminate the prisms and no other area. Another thing you should know about "LIGHT HOUSE" is that it is the original model of "IMAGINE PEACE TOWER" built in Iceland, 2007. But still, we can't go inside of the house built by light with our technology. Ono's imagination is always far beyond ours.

"WATER SOURCE" reminds us to think of our roots

The imagination of Yoko Ono's light house can also be combined with the main term of this exhibition "WATER SOURCE": The water changes it's form into light and this light shines so bright until it reaches the sky.

If one goes further and explores this exhibition the meaning of  the exhibition title "WATER SOURCE" is going to be revealed.

It starts with one of Yoko Ono's poems called "WE Are All WATER".

"You are water. I'm also water. We are all water in our own vessel. That's why it's so easy to meet. Someday we'll evaporate together. Even when water evaporated, we may say "I am there. That vessel is I." by pointing the vessel. We are guard mans of the vessels. Written for the "HALF A WIND" show at Lisson Gallery, London in 1967. When we are all water, what is our source? One answer must be our mother. That is why "MY MOMMY IS BEAUTIFUL" was also installed in this exhibition. "WATER SOURCE" reminds us to think of our roots again.

"WE Are All WATER" written by Yoko Ono

Those words from a poet seep almost automatically into our hearts. Just like water. Ono sees us as water. Water behaves like love too as water and love always change their shapes. Although they may be colorless and transparent, at the same time they define themselves with an absolute presence.
Actually, one realizes that it is something that gushes out from the deep bottom of our hearts.

Ono's idea is as simple as brilliant: In our so often stressful lives we have the tendency to forget about this important thing and also often taking our love ones for granted. Her works give the visitor the chance to look inward for a moment and think about their roots again.

text by Stefanie Mühlberger

Exhibition Info
"WATER SOURCE"
date: Dec 10, 2012 - Jan 26, 2013
place: Gallery 360 degree
address: 5-1-27-2F, Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
website: http://www.360.co.jp

In some of her works, their surfaces shine like a metal due to graphite. It shows a different face when you change the angle standing toward the work. In other works, it shows a soft cloud-like surface which is gentle and calm.

She sees artworks as an 3 dimensional object. It means that you can only see one perspective from one point and have to move around to see the other side.  "The other side" in her work means the viewer's awareness or environmental situation reflecting on the work.

What impressed me the most is that she uses pencils from 5 different countries. Moreover, she can tell which pencil she used in her work by seeing its texture. It shows how sensitively and deeply she understands the medium and process. Pencil for her is completely different from the one for me. Her attitude made me to think "What is the medium that I am working with? Do I really understand about it? " People create something everyday such as products, foods, writings or anything categorized as an output. As well as what we create, it must be important to understand the medium we use. It must make a difference as an output when it is delivered to someone.

text by Rasa Tsuda

Yanagi created the stage perfectly looks like the subway station platform

Guest artists to the festival are musicians, stage directors, performers and also a professor who develops performing humanoid robots. At the start of the festival, Yanagi created the stage perfectly looks like the subway station platform. They have been providing series of performance events on this stage since its opening in October. See and compare it with our report for the last festival which was led by German-based artist Tatzu Nishi in the same venue. Now it is a totally different place.

Yanagi trained ordinary women to be "Elevator Girls" so that they could act in her new play

Among many programs held this year, the most remarkable one is "Elevator Girls Project: Osaka edition". In this three-month-long workshop, Yanagi trains ordinary women to be "Elevator Girls". Process of workshop is open to the public every time. Finally those Elevator Girls will act in her new play "Panorama - Railroad version-" which is scheduled to be held on the last two days of the festival. According to the artist, a group of Elevator Girls will perform like the Greek chorus using several techniques, including singing, narrating, and acting.

"The stage is an epitome of the world. It is always meant to reflect the world and people in the fastest and strongest way"

Twelve artists, almost all born after 1970, are due to take lead role in the next art scene

"Live painting piece" by Hidekazu Tanaka

Hidekazu Tanaka has consistently dedicated himself to painting abstract subjects. He is trying to develop various conceptual approaches as well. Live painting is one of the most important methods for him. He live-painted this work on the first day.

Close look of "Live painting piece" by Hidekazu Tanaka

Close look of "CD (Black)" by Lyota Yagi

"Autopsychobabble #3" by Meiro Koizumi

Meiro Koizumi, recently won the Grand Prize at Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh 15, performed third piece from his "Eternal Virgin" series. He took an image of Setsuko Hara, well known for her role as Haruko in Ozu Yasujiro's Tokyo story, and made a performing intervention towards her image. The performance work consists of a mixture of video sampling, voice dubbing, and violent gesture of pencil drawing. These drawings are the remains of the performance took place on the first day.

"uta, ks, and kiki (Homage for Michael Goldberg)" by Hiroshi Tachibana

Hiroshi Tachibana is a US-based Japanese artist, who has recently left NY and now works in San Francisco. He focuses on accidentally created abstract expressions in his painting. He also attempts to bring together what he creates and what others create on one canvas with layering techniques. The work is homage to an American abstract expressionist painter, Michael Goldberg.

"Ghost in the Liquid Room (lenticular) #3" by Teppei Kaneuji

Teepei Kaneuji is widely known for his three-dimensional works created by collage techniques. In this work, he pieced together the mishmash of lenticular printing stickers into a huge polyhedral sculpture.

"Something hidden in A" by Saori Miyake

Saori Miyake is an artist who has been focusing on photogram technique. She creates works by exposing the painted film and some small objects together in an improvised manner.

Close look of "Something hidden in A" by Saori Miyake

"The evening of three-cornered wooden horses (collaborated piece)" by Ei Arakawa and Shimon Minamikawa

"The evening of three-cornered wooden horses" is a collaborative installation by Ei Arakawa and Shimon Minamikawa. The work consists of paintings, some scripts and this large wooden boards in the back. It finally turns into a performance piece at some point in the exhibition period.

"See Weeds (video work)" by Ei Arakawa

Ei Arakawa is a performance-based artist. "See Weeds" is his performance focusing on the Gutai group, the artistic movement emerged in mid-20th century Japan. It was performed in les Abattoirs in France.

"Four paintings" by Shimon Minamikawa

Shimon Minamikawa is well known for his illustrations of Shuichi Yoshida's novel, "Yokomichi Yonosuke". But basically he gained a wide reputation in his simple paintings with restricted colors, stripe and dot patterns or roughly sketched figures. For this exhibition, four paintings all in gray are on display. Slightly uneven touches left behind.

"Untitled (Bright Silver)" and "Untitled (Medium Magenta)" by Takashi Kunitani

Takashi Kunitani is an artist who is attracting the wide attention for his neon work installation. Neon is mostly stimulating media, but his works have strange tranquility. Collage works with neon and three standing neon signs are on display. Every piece brings significant effect to the space.

"Untitled (Abstra 1)" by Takashi Kunitani

"hidden place (salty fire)" by Kaoru Kan

Kaoru Kan is Japanese style painter, who takes up "water" as the subject. She describes its transparency and limitless variety using traditional Japanese style painting method. She presents some mixed media works with fabrics for this exhibition. But it is rarely seen in the field of Japanese style painting.

Close look of "hidden place (salty fire)" by Kaoru Kan

Exhibition view of second room

Reality more deeply than what galleries or museums can offer

The venue is an authentic warehouse which is still in active use. The artists asked the owner to move away whole products stocked here during the exhibition period. It was worth it. Space provides a perfect combination to artworks. In particular, how cool they look with corrugated aluminum covered walls or cracked concrete walls filled with plaster in the background! I felt the reality more deeply than what those all white galleries or museums can offer.

photo and text by Natsuki Niimi

Exhibition Info
Date: Nov 11 - Dec 16, 2012
Place: Daido warehouse
Address: 1−63, Mibushinmeicho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto , Japan
Exhibition Designer: Fumiko Takahama(architect)
Website: http://abstra12.tumblr.com/