ITINERANT ART
Wandering like a monkey, life like a monk, art in the pockets.
After my immersion in art in Switzerland came to an end and I started living in Japan again, my compass began to point in a different direction. Having seen various aspects of art, from the periphery to the cutting edge, including the work I was involved in Switzerland, I came to feel that I wanted to explore simple, universal human questions from a different path, rather than from this path. The path that had crossed my mind several times before but which I had not chosen then, began to point like a light flashing in the darkness. However, I didn't take action straight away. First, I looked for a way to restart my life in Japan. There's been a lot going on and about a half year later, while quietly standing in my renovated old farmhouse in early winter, I felt that this house was no longer my home. Finally I made up my mind to let go of everything.
I let go of almost everything I had collected in my life, including the old house.
On 17 March 2019, I arrived in Sao Paulo, having taken the first step in my search for a home, town and country in South America, with a 40 litre backpack on my back.
‘When you can make up your mind, it's spring.’＊
- the words I wrote in my notebook as a junior high school student, it became a clutch hit 20 years later. Time does not exist. This is also exactly KIRIMUKAURI, I think.
＊In Japan, March is spring
ichi-go ichi-e
(one time, one meeting)
country
Turkey
Year
2024
On the 20th day of my journey through Turkey, I found a connection to local artists I was looking for, and I arrived in the town where the potter lived.
The potter Tulin's husband is a photographer Ahmet, and he suggested that I give a talk about my work and experimental way of life to local photography students at his gallery.
He designed two posters for the workshop..
ieji in Mevlana Museum
(Rumi Mevlana, Jalāl al-dīn Muḥammad Rūmī)
ieji in Cappadocia
moderator
poster designed
Ahmet Özyurt
The mail to the person who met and cooperated on this trip
The lecture was very well received. My works, which are about time, memory, and the reconstruction of memory, and existence, seemed to act like a mirror for each person's personal memories and themselves, and I received such comments from each of them. I was glad because that is the raison d'etre of my works.
There are two episode that a big impressed me.
Dear xx, Hello
A few hours before the event was to begin, a close friend of Ahmet's died suddenly. It was very sad news. After seeing my KIRIMUKAURI (works dealing with time and existence), he said something like this, "I lost a close friend, but I am not sad. He is gone, but he is here. I feel like it means something to have seen this work today, on this day. This art has taken the fear out of me.”
One man asked me if there were any countries I was thinking of visiting after Turkey. I pointed to the T-shirt worn by the man sitting to my right. 'Amsterdam' I’ve felt that in order to develop KIRIMUKAURI's work, I needed a team. In my research, Amsterdam was on the list of candidates, including artist residencies and curatorships. Nothing has begun on this journey yet, though.
Modern Ukiyo-e
200-Year Bon Dance
country
Brazil
Year
2022
Homage to Kuniyoshi Utagawa "Kingyo Zukushi (Goldfish Series)"
He depicts people’s daily lives with anthropomorphic goldfishes.
My next experimental life (a wandering life like a monk, art in my pocket) began in São Paulo.
Even if the times and countries change, people's lives don't change.
Japanese goldfish came to Brazil. They were dancing in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro too.
Even after two hundred years, they will surely still be dancing.
Ukiyo-e: a genre of painting that emerged in the early Edo period of Japan, using woodblock prints and paintings depicting customs and everyday life.
This world is a UKIYO憂き世 (painful world) and a UKIYO浮き世 (fleeting world). Then, let's at least UKIUKI浮き浮き(exhilaration) and enjoy ourselves and make the most of this world. With that in mind, it change direction again and become a UKIYO浮き世.
* The pronunciation is the same and the Chinese characters were changed.
The Neonderthal Trail
country
Brazil, Ecuador
Year
2024
Wandering like a monkey, life like a monk, art in the pockets.
Where did we come from, and where are we going?
Even after becoming a hairless monkey, the journey continues.
The boat arrived at an island on the Amazon River. As I walked, came to a village. A dog passed by in front of what looked like a restaurant.
I asked for a guide and went to see the indigenous people's way of life. It was the dry season, so the houses were built very high above the water, and puppies and chicks were cooling down below them.
We went out on two boats to go spear fishing at night. There were lots of small fish in the shallow waters like a swamp. Also a baby crocodile. The general store on the water was closed, but a boy was taking care of his net.
I was attracted to the ceramic works I saw at the exhibition, and set out on a journey to find the valley where they were made, and ended up in this village. I got to know João here, and worked in his atelier every day. I was given a room to stay by two families, Maira and Sergio.
As the day of my departure from Brazil approached, I decided to cross the border by travelling up the Amazon River. From this town, my month-long boat trip would begin. First, go to buy a hammock to sleep in on the boat.
I bought enough food for a few days in Quito and crossed over to the Galapagos. The sea was still cold in September. Plovers were running around on the shallow beach, and iguanas were gathered in groups. I walked and walked along the long.
I approached the lighthouse.There was a sea lion sleeping at the entrance. There was another one sleeping at the top of the spiral staircase. I was worried that I might disturb them, but they didn't seem to mind, so I spent the rest of the day watching the sea and the birds until dusk.
The Thinker Bird
country
Turkey
Year
2024
Coming soon
Wandering like a monkey, life like a monk, art in the pockets.
Masked Cats
country
Turkey
Year
2024
Reproduction masked cat. A cat wearing a cat mask.
Collaboration with a potter in Turkey.
In Japanese, there is a phrase ‘to wear a cat’. It means ‘to hide one's true nature and appear meek. Also, to pretend not to know something when you do.
Turkey was a country with many cats. While I was filming, I felt a gaze from the bushes.
(As the saying goes, ‘Istanbul's cats’ or ‘the cat's capital’, it seemed that the stray cats had gained tacit citizenship as the city cat part of the city. However, during my stay, the laws concerning the cats and dogs living in the city were renewed. The opinions of humans are always divided when it comes to humans and animals coexisting in the city. I hope that this country, which has small neighbours, will continue to be a model for the future.)
In Turkey, I again searched for artisans such as woodworkers and potters, and asked around to the locals. I eventually ended up in the Cappadocia area, and thankfully I was able to spend about two months immersed in pottery making with two pottery families. I will never forget that encounter and the gratitude I felt.
The second half of the video are masked cats that were sold at KADOYA Studio from 2009 to around 2016.
Watermelon Basketball Fox
country
Sweden
Year
2024
Coming soon
Making a "Cuppdocia (Kupadokya)"
country
Turkey
Year
2024
Making a Cuppdocia (Kupadokya)
Make a cup out of clay from a cave in Cappadocia. Cappadocia Cups.
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Chameleon Cottage
country
Japan, Turkey
Sweden
Year
2024
When I was travelling in Brazil, a chameleon appeared as my travel navigator or symbol.
When the world was lockedown by the coronavirus and I was forced to stay at home, I started voxel art. The first thing I made was this chameleon cottage.
A few years later, I resumed my travels and in Turkey, the chameleon cottage became a piece of pottery. The tongue became a whale.
After that, I moved to in Sweden. The Swedish sea is shallow, and there were many small islands of just the right size for chameleons to land on. Whales happily popped out of its mouth.
Sumer Knitting
country
Japan
Year
2022
Coming soon