ART LIVES TORIDE Where Art Is Born

I have lived in Toride City since I was in graduate school. I originally lived in Tokyo to study oil painting at Tokyo University of the Arts, but moved to Toride City where the graduate school in mural painting, is my major, is located..
Since my student days, I have been conducting art projects related to urban development in Toride City.So when we appeared on TV and in the media, the people of the city were pleased and we made many connections.The owner of the building in front of the station said to me, “You are doing something interesting. The owner of the building in front of the station said, “You are doing something interesting. The building is vacant, so you can come in for free rent.

When artists are involved with the city and want to improve the city, they are more likely to receive information and benefits from the base of activity. In my case, in addition to my artistic activities, I often participated in events related to the community. I am still friends with the people I met at those events.
In Shibuya Ward I am also working to erase graffiti in the city.I have only been there for about three years, but I am making new connections with people there..

I don’t think art is special, but it is difficult to connect with society. It’s a tough industry to begin with, so you have to think a lot harder than most people. I believe that mutual understanding is necessary for this to happen. Nothing will change unless the artist steps up to society. Society does not protect us, and if we don’t want it, we will be eliminated. If we don’t make the effort here to be thoroughly needed, people who come after us will have a hard time. Therefore, I will do anything, even if everyone else refuses to do it.

I was one of the first students of Masato Nakamura’s laboratory in graduate school, and my life changed after meeting Prof. Nakamura. Until then, I thought I could live just by being a “Geidai student”. “You’ll die a slow death if you don’t change your ways.” I was impressed by what he said to me.

First of all, I was told to buy a computer, make a PowerPoint presentation, submit some kind of document in PDF format, get a grant while I was still a student, do research, start an organization, and so on.It’s a given that you can produce something, so if you can’t do the planning and management behind it, you can’t do it well. ……It was super tough.
He tapped me into all the know-how that is alive today. I was trained. Meeting Prof. Nakamura was huge.

I recently held “Delivery Art” during the Covid pandemic. A delivery service that transports art by motorcycle. I decided that it was no use having all the past works in the office, so I created a website with all the works. The pandemic has reduced my workload, but I don’t see the change in environment as a negative in the first place. I think it is rather important to consider that environment when acting and creating, so I think about it each time.I hope to be able to offer something new.

I actually did delivery art when I was a student. I felt that if I worked in museum or gallery, it would not be scalable.I think it is important for artists to be expansive and to what extent they can enter into society in their activities. I paint pictures as iconography, but I also think about how to express how to live, including the money aspect.

I have a goal. In my fifties I want to establish a base in New York, London, and Paris, then in universe in my sixties. I believe that the bigger the hurdle, the better, and if you don’t imagine it, you can’t achieve it. Finally, I painted “Ken Chan Man (Self-Portrait)” as my last painting before my death.. This is the joy of my life.

I have always loved painting since I was a child, and painting was a natural part of my family due to the influence of my father and siblings, who both graduated from the oil painting department of Tokyo University of the Arts, the same university as I did. It’s not the family motto of the Bobazima family, but you have to be different from others.
I believe that being different is really the right thing to do. There is no conflict if you think you are ‘different’ from others .If you think, ‘It’s the same,’ you’re forcing them to do the same thing. Even religion, even country. Understanding the incomprehensible brings peace to the world. I believe that is the potential of art. I hope that the world will become a place where people can enjoy art rather than deny that they don’t know what it is.