ART LIVES TORIDE Where Art Is Born

I used to work in Shitamachi old area in Tokyo and came to Toride in 1991. My wife is from Toride. It was one or two years after the Toride campus of Tokyo University of the Arts was established. At first, we had a hard time purchasing materials. When I lived in Tokyo, there were many local factories around, so I could just call them and get materials quickly. But here, it was very difficult to buy aluminum. I looked around and made relationships. It’s easier now, though.

After I came here, I got in touch with the members of ‘Toribi’, the current Toride Artists’ Exhibition. There is a lot of involvement in Toride. My son-in-law is also working hard on murals. We once worked together on an art project to build a boat.

Futurism was proposed, and among them came the idea that we should use a variety of materials. I thought it was very rich and interesting. I used all kinds of materials. I started with wood carving, then plastic, then metal.

I think I was 27 years old. I thought that if I worked with dots, lines, and surfaces in that order, I would be able to understand sculpture a little better, so I started working with sand, which is similar to dots. That was a success. Until then, I had only worked on the surface of sculpture and had not paid attention to the inside. But in the case of sand, when I dig into it, the inside becomes the surface. In this way, the inside and the surface switch places. Around that time, I met an art gallery that allowed me to hold exhibitions all the time.

I used aluminum inside of work to lighten the sand. I was also very interested in metals. I don’t stick to one thing too much. That’s how the animal series I’m making now started.

When I peeled off the aluminum plating, I thought the pattern looked like a giraffe. I experimented with various things and made a giraffe. The giraffe’s neck alone was 2.4 meters long, and it sold very quickly. I decided to give it a try. That’s how it all started.

The stripes on zebras, I didn’t paint them with color. I tried using foil and found it beautiful. If you polish it, it looks different. Aluminum is an interesting material. However, there are not so many works using aluminum as a material. Because aluminum is quite difficult to work with, so schools don’t teach it very much.

The fact that so few people are doing it is an attraction for an artist. Even the usage of a welding rod cannot be done neatly without proper learning. As you touch aluminum, you learn a lot of things you didn’t know before. In this way, I am fascinated by the technique of making sculptures.

In sculpture, you must not get lost. When I decide to make something like this, I make it. Even if it is tilted. If you get lost in the process of thinking about what is right and what is wrong, nothing good will come out of it. I am making it all in a single sitting.

At first, I drew a picture on the floor and made it into a three-dimensional object with a wire. Then, I used that as a guide to tap the metal. Even if I look at a picture of an animal, I can’t see the details, but I can see the skeleton. The rest is an expression.

So far I have made all life-size sculptures. . That’s why they are so big. This one is of a gibbon, and the title is “Oteage” (I can’t help it)”. I’m doing it in a fun way.

I even made a camel with a faucet attached to its hump, so that when you turn it on, wine comes out of it. This is a giant anteater and a tamandua. Tamanduas live in trees. They wrap their tails around the trees. They all have their own ways of living. I thought that was interesting.

There are about 4,800 species of mammals. Humans are mammals, too. We have been evolving in order to survive. The process of evolution is amazing, and it is not interesting to have only one kind of mammal. I have stopped following the art scene, and I am pursuing other values.

My goal is 100 pieces. Right now I have about 41. I still have to make about 60 more. It’s a lot of work. Art is nothing without the number of works. It is not enough to create one good work of art. Having a large number of works is an advantage. Once a work sparks a boom, people from all over the world will come to buy it.

I have been to many places, and after two months in any country, I think it would be nice to live here. When I worked in Georgia, the way of handling tools was completely different. They cut and eat the sheep by themselves. It is interesting to see such cultural differences.

This year, I have shows in Ibaraki and Niigata. As an artist, I am always happy to have places to present my work.

There are some works that are not open to the public upstairs. Would you like to take a look?