In the course of making weeds my motif, I too have come to feel I have a stake in their fates. At this point in my life I had no idea how large the world was. Living each day in the same limited surroundings, I knew that here was a world secluded from the rest of the world, a world for me alone.
Though weeds go on living in the same surroundings as if nothing else matters, when you look closely you see that in their various particularities they exhibit the capacity for development in their lives, embracing a distinctive sense of tension and emptiness. Looking back to the land where I was born and raised, the Town of Kawauchi, I have seen many people who resemble these kinds of weeds. Thus for me weeds are a sort of microcosm of the world, and I think I express myself through this motif.
My work strives to present a neutral picture. I try not to exhibit partiality toward anything. Thus my aim is to create harmonious works which exhibit no bias for any particular element, neither the abstract nor the concrete, traditional methods nor challenging methods, form nor formlessness, the subjective nor the objective, walls nor open spaces. Dividing my pictures in two, one part uses traditional methods of drawing with a needle on a board (coated with a preservative) so as to depict an objective, natural, concrete image of weeds in the print. The other part uses expressive methods to create form via chaotic hitting with a hammer, depicting a subjective, abstract, non-representational image of weeds. As a result, I believe the two contrasting images enter into a dialogue, engendering questions about the existence of weeds, and expressing my own inner vision in terms of the spirituality the weeds themselves possess.
