Artist Statement:

My expressions are very quiet, subtle and simple.

When one is viewing my work, it’s almost like getting closer and trying hard to listen to someone’s whispering voice. My works can only be seen by those who are patient enough to see what they are able to see, curious enough to see beyond what they can see. The attitude that I bring to the creation of my works may have been influenced by those over-expressive, self-centered pieces that were quite the opposite and often autistic-like works that I saw in the Japanese art scene during the 80’s and 90’s. In my creating-working process, I believe it is more important to express my ideas, concepts and rules, rather than expressing my inner self or my objective sensations. My attempt at making art is to seek ways to create pieces that are both ‘painting-like’ and ‘animation-like’. The role of my work in the contemporary art scene is to go beyond two boundaries: painting and animation. In order to achieve my role, I must pursue the meaning of the material things and find out how they are related to each other. By finding out the very core of the ‘way of seeing things’, I will be able to simplify things to the very core.

Image: © Kouichi Tabata, Joyce Gallery