WORKS

ARTIST STATEMENT

ARTIST STATEMENT  　　　　　　　 　私の絵と創作について　

　I was born in countryside and used to play in nature, climbing trees, hills, swimming in the river, and so on. When I was 22 years old, I started painting by self-taught. I wanted to paint nature which I had seen for long time.

　At first I used oil. But soon changed to watercolor because the atmosphere of oil painting was very different from what I saw in nature, feelings of transiency and infinity of the universe. After 23 years, when I was 45 years old, I began Sumie, black ink painting on paper. Because watercolor was not enough for me to express what I saw in nature.

　When I painted by watercolor, I tried to express the feeling of transiency by layering thin colors. But about infinity feeling, I could not catch it at that time. When I got to know the limits of watercolor expression, I started Sumie. But it was very different from watercolor. By trial and error, I found many unexpected things; nature was just a symbol, using many wet-in-wet washes invited natural phenomenon in painting, and the unpainted parts, like the mountain covered with snow, cloud, and mist, showed me a great wisdom of how to live. To express without painting implies for me to live without ego, let it be, let it go. Then I found infinite silence and stillness in the black painted background where all transient things come from and go back to. I realized the relation between transiency and infinity.

　Since then to connect these silence and stillness is my primary thing to paint. Now I do not want to put myself into my painting because I have known that I am not the man who paint a picture but a witness to the manifesting art. I just want my painting to be a clear mirror. As myself goes out from painting, so it reflects your being clearly.

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　Thank you.

　私が絵を始めたのは、二十二歳の秋でした。幼少から自然の中に居るのが好きだったので、モチーフは早い段階で風景が中心になりました。描きたかったのは自然の中に見る無常感と無限感です。私は独学でこれと取り組みました。

　無常感については色の重ね方や遠近法の工夫で、やがて表現出来る様になりました。しかし無限感はそれが何なのかを掴めないまま、長い年月が流れました。無常はこの世界の事実ですが、無限はその奥にあるからです。

　移り変わる自然を見つめ、世界を見つめ、自分を見つめ、私は絵を描き続けました。そしてある時無限の一端に触れました。絵は私が描くのではなく、私は絵が出来る場の目撃者だったのです。

　以来私は、絵の中に私の感覚や感情や想いを込めるのを止めました。澄んだ鏡が良く見る人の姿を映す様に、私の絵も澄んだ鏡の様に観る人の心を映し、その方の本当の価値をそこに見つけて戴きたいからです。コロナを経た私達は、他者との比較や競争ではなく、それぞれの価値の中に安らぐ事が必要です。決して揺らがない自分と真の癒しはそこにあります。私の絵がそのための縁となれば幸いです。

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​　　　　　　　　　　　　　2021年10月　山下康一

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