Statement
My theme is “Modernity and Pictorial Expression in Landscapes.” I explore, through painting, how the relationships between people and places, as well as the intersections between personal memory and cultural landscapes, can be visualized.
I adopt a stance of perceiving landscapes not as narrative backdrops or symbolic representations, but as “things that exist there.” Accordingly, I aim to construct what could be called a Creole-like pictorial language, in which abstract expression and contemporary notions of landscape mutually permeate one another. In particular, I focus on spatial structures characteristic of Japanese painting—such as “ma” (intervals)” and “yohaku” (empty space)—and employ them as cognitive tools for the reconfiguration of landscapes.
Landscapes can be considered an “international language,” shared across cultures and eras, as they are composed of universal elements such as plants and shadows. I have particularly focused on sites where nature and the artificial intersect in complex layers—gardens, quarries, abandoned houses, and the like. These places simultaneously embody oppositional structures—coexistence and domination, regeneration and destruction, the organic and the inorganic—which serve as the initial impetus for my visual compositions.
Furthermore, I treat historically charged sites on the same conceptual level as anonymous quarries, ruins, or everyday gardens. Although there are differences in degree and context, these sites share a structural similarity in that they all arise from the interplay of the artificial and the natural. Through this selection of motifs, I aim to visualize the “structural homogeneity” of landscapes.
In my works, I avoid using local or naturalistic colors and abstract forms so as not to unduly foreground the inherent narrative of the motifs. Subjects with social significance often create tension by prompting viewers to seek the “correct interpretation.” I, however, place importance on mitigating that tension through well-composed, visually compelling surfaces, providing an environment in which viewers can approach the work with greater freedom.
Viewers first interpret my paintings based on their own perception and experience, and only afterward reach a stage where the motif’s objective historical and social meanings intersect with the images evoked by the work. This two-stage viewing experience—combining subjective reaction and objective meaning—is precisely what I aim to realize through painting.
I consider that the impression of a landscape arises from the accumulation of human-nature relationships as layers of memory. Painting, for me, is an experimental practice to explore the relationship between these layers of memory and cultural landscapes, and I continue this practical research with sustained commitment.