Artist’s Comment

When I was small, I thought I could see the movement of air particles inside a room. When I learned about Brownian motion (random movements caused by liquid or gaseous molecules colliding with microscopic particles), I felt like I had awakened to the truth. That same perception can also be felt within nature, as well as from how sumi ink dissolves in water, the idea of which slightly arouses my emotions.

Plants grow, rivers flow, and mountains remain still, and as the seasons change, new lives are born… This is the power inherent in nature. I truly hope that this richness of nature is able to be perceived by people eternally.

In my view, creating a painting is an attempt to reproduce one’s bodily sensations, while at the same time producing a new “quality” that exists beyond that perception.

My works are materialized through my process of accumulating lines, by using mainly sumi ink, white chalk pigment and silver paint, along with water and glue on hemp paper. I create my works through seeking the appearance of an unknown “quality,” and a picture plane that can be independent on its own.

I anticipate that my works in this exhibition can activate the surrounding space and that a new sense of Brownian motion can develop within the space.

January 1998

(Translated by Taeko Nanpei)