I have always loved the shape of letters. I was attracted to the beauty of the form
rather than the meaning contained in the letters.
In particular, Japanese calligraphy and alphabet type written in black on a white
background showed me the significance of space on a flat surface.
They showed me the significance of space in a flat plane. I saw it as a beautiful
play between letters and space.
After the age of 40, I began to realise the importance of the meaning of letters and
documents. I am ashamed to say that this is a rather late realisation compared to
the general public. Until then, as mentioned above, my life was such that as long as
the composition of letters and space was cool, everything was fine, but as I got older,
I began to understand the meanings and origins of letters and words, as well as
ideas related to words, such as Kotodama in Japanese Shintoism and the Gospel of
John in the New Testament, “In the beginning was the Word”, and I began to feel the
relationship between words and people. I have come to feel the relationship between
words and people. In my own way, of course.
In this exhibition, in addition to the coolness I feel between words and space, I will
also present visuals derived from words. I will be exhibiting the visuals derived from
the words in addition to the coolness of the letters and space I feel. I will also show
works that were exhibited at the ‘Iron and Light Art Festival’ in Muroran in August.

私は昔から文字の形が好きでした。文字に内包する意味より形の美しさに惹かれていました。 特に白地に黒で書かれた日本の書やアルファベットの活字は平面における空間の存在意義を私に示してくれ ました。それは文字と空間との美しい遊戯にも見えたのです。 40歳を過ぎた頃から文字や文書の意味の重要さを感じるようになりました。 恥ずかしながら一般と比べれば かなり遅咲きの気づきだと思います。それまでは先述した通り文字と空間の構成さえ格好良ければ全て良しと いうような人生でしたが、歳を重ねるにつれ文字や言葉に内包する意味や起源、加えて日本の神道における 言靈や新約聖書ヨハネ福音書「はじめに言葉ありき」 など、言葉にまつわる考えを知ることにより、言葉と 人との関係性を感じるようになったのです。勿論、私なりにです。 今回の展覧会では、私が感じる文字と空間との格好よさに加えて言葉から導かれたビジュアルを展示しました。 また8月に室蘭で行われた「鉄と光の芸術祭」に出品した作品も同時に展示しています。

Exhibition of past works from the ‘Muroran Iron and Light Art Festival’.
同時展示　室蘭「鉄と光の芸術祭」（2022年8月10日～8月14日迄 5日間の開催 ）
When I was in primary school, I was taught that Muroran is the ‘iron city of Muroran’. I was told that this was because there was a lot of iron sand in nearby Funka Bay that could be used as raw material.At the time, I remember thinking: ‘Why doesn’t iron sand from the sea rust? I remember thinking, “Why doesn’t iron sand from the sea rust? Iron is a mysterious and fascinating substance.Iron occupies about a third of the earth’s surface and is deeply related to the flow of the magnetic field. The development ofrailways, shipbuilding and urbanisation, including the Industrial Revolution, and The steel and iron industry developed remarkably as a result of the military needs caused by the two world wars.The benefits of iron have helped mankind to modernise and it is no exaggeration to say that mankind has shared joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure with iron. Muroran is a city where this is evident.I have been creating many works using iron as a material for a long time. In addition to the beautiful visuals of iron as a material itself Inaddition to the beautiful visual of the material itself, I also feel the cycle of the earth when I see it weathering, rusting and decaying.In this exhibition, I have tried to create my own homage to iron. I decided to place expressionist artworks in the city of iron, which are inspired by the images of circulation, modernisation and magnetic fields.

小学生の頃「鉄のまち室蘭」と教わった。近くの噴火湾に原料となる沢山の砂鉄があるからだと。当時、なぜ海の砂鉄は錆びないのだろう？と考えた記憶がある。鉄という物質は不思議であり 魅力的だ。 地球の約三分の一を占め磁場の流動にも深く関係する鉄。産業革命含め鉄道、造船、都市化の発展と２度の世界大戦による軍需で鉄鋼、製鉄産業が著しく発達した。人類は鉄の 恩恵で近代化を推進し、鉄と共に喜怒哀楽を共にしてきたと言っても過言ではない。室蘭はそれが顕著な都市である。私は以前から鉄を素材とした作品を多く作ってきた。 鉄という物質そのものの美しいビジュアルに加え、それとは逆に風化し錆び朽ちてゆく姿に地球の循環を感じるからだ。本展では私なりの鉄へのオマージュを考え循環、近代化、磁場を イメージした表現主義な作品を鉄のまちに置くことにした。