INTERVIEW with Masaki Hirokawa
Carmela Loiacono talks with Masaki Hirokawa, who participated during three exhibitions of RenovArt | 100 Artists for the Future in Matera at Spazio Opera Gallery and at Lega Navale Italiana with his works: "A Regenerated World", "The Justice of Equality", "Kuan Yin Bodhisattva", "Karma", "Avatar" and "Distance"
Carmela Loiacono talks with Masaki Hirokawa, who participated during three exhibitions of RenovArt | 100 Artists for the Future in Matera at Spazio Opera Gallery and at Lega Navale Italiana with his works: "A Regenerated World", "The Justice of Equality", "Kuan Yin Bodhisattva", "Karma", "Avatar" and "Distance"
I received the honor of being interviewed by Carmela Loiacono, an art historian who runs RenovArt | 100 Artists for the Future, an exhibition organized by ApuliaAste. RenovArt is a curation project dedicated to the world's greatest artistic talents, and as evidence of their commitment to regenerating and promoting artists, it is organized with the objective of developing and expanding modern art, as well as to elevate knowledge about this genre and style.
Matera is a place in Italy that is teeming with a pure spirit, and it is where I was invited to open a private exhibition of my artwork this year. I am deeply grateful for having met many people who were not only able to comprehend the unseen colors and invisible light within my artwork as a common phenomena, but who could also deeply experience and understand the spirit and heart embedded within them.
I began my path to creativity from loss, and have dedicated everything, exclusively, to that pursuit. I possess nothing more. To leave an insignificant perspective of my observations of this time period we live in, for the sake of the tiny lives which grow and develop by the day, is the only thing I am capable of doing, and it is my one and only hope.
ApuliaAste 主催、RenovArt | 100 Artists for the Future展を手掛ける美術史家、Carmela Loiacono氏よりインタビューいただきました。RenovArt は世界最高の芸術的才能に捧げるキュレーションプロジェクトで、アーティストの再生と奨励の証として、現代美術の発展および知識向上を目的とし開催されました。
イタリアのマテーラは清らかなスピリットに満ちた土地で、今年個展を開催いただけることになりました。見えない色や見えない光を当たり前のように捉えるだけでなく、作品に込められた心を深く感じ得る人々と出会えたことに感謝いたします。
私は失うことから創作を始め、それだけに全てを捧げて参りました。他には何も持ち得ません。日々育まれゆく小さな命に、この時代の観察記録の僅かな側面を残すことだけが、今の私に唯一できることであり、唯一の希望です。
- Could you introduce yourself and your art, please?
Both of my grandfathers were miya-daiku (shrine carpenters), who were hired to build shrines and temples. My mother was blessed with an artistic bloodline. Having grown up with the adoring love of my grandparents, I first began designing on the night of my grandfather's wake, when I was 16 years old. Ever since then, over the course of 25 years, I have remained steadfastly on this path.
Both of my grandfathers were miya-daiku (shrine carpenters), who were hired to build shrines and temples. My mother was blessed with an artistic bloodline. Having grown up with the adoring love of my grandparents, I first began designing on the night of my grandfather's wake, when I was 16 years old. Ever since then, over the course of 25 years, I have remained steadfastly on this path.
My reasons for choosing this family as my home reside in the two themes of my soul—"the harmony of reciprocal entities which, at first glance, are in conflict," and "the coalescence of all attributes and senses of values"—as well as the concepts of "equality" and "indiscrimination," which are often mentioned as the theses of my artwork.
Now, however, having learned so much from "multipolarization," which lies beyond the trials and ordeals produced by polarity, what I can raise as new themes are seamless transitions between multiple dimensions, the interspersion and scattering of the consciousness, and the completely indiscriminate heart of love.
Into this world are born many Buddhas and Gautamas, and while it is a tumultuous age we live in, I feel blessed to have been born in such a time filled with many teachers and learnings.
In the process of my life, there is artwork, and in the process of creating art, there exists a microcosm of life. One method of intuitively receiving the signals of the soul is to create, and each and every occurrence of fate or chance that is generated by such creation is, to me, a beloved treasure.
- I know that you have a range of activities includes graphic design, smartphone app development, interactive movie production, and website development, and writer for magazines and reference books. Please, let us know how you combine all these activities with your art?
Since the age of 21, I have been involved in the development of core systems as a system engineer, and even now, I have continued with my personal business in developing smartphone apps— an industry that does not allow for errors or failures— for 10 years now. No matter how hard I try to do precise and accurate work, approximately 0.05% of users will be affected by system crashes, and in that meager and insignificant number, I experience the unmistakable distance that exists between the truth and humanity, and am constantly afflicted by feelings of shame and disgrace.
The cumulative file size of a graphic artwork is comparable to that of a short film, a work of construction and management spanning several hundred layers. The regulations and classifications which govern the naming of each layer conform to the structuralization methods learned from my experience in system development, and at times, I may utilize software bugs to expand some features (in programming language, these are called "hacks," while at other times, they may also be called forms of "black magic").
Moreover, as a matter of courtesy or manners toward the photographer or model, I use the method of non-destructive processing or editing, which retains the original content in its entirety. Consequently, it leads me to executing so many perplexing, puzzle piece-like minute adjustments that I start forget if I'm coming or going. The possibility of reversing any edit is a true benefit of digital media, but it is at the same time a drawback as well. I decided to use this as an advantage instead, and chose a style of remaining resolutely stupid throughout the process. I am confident that I can make things even more extremely complicated.
Inherently, my nature is completely the opposite of the logical, strictly regulated and disciplined style mentioned earlier. For these past 25 years, I have lived a lifestyle that was severely bound and restrained. However, in the process of taking detours, I have met with many benefactors and specialists, each of whom were masters in their particular field and under which I learned. I am who I am today because of them. The theme of my future is to overcome my past, cut the threads which control myself, and find a way to stand upon a new starting line.
- Where do you find inspiration for your works?
I often receive inspiration after visiting a church or shrine. Moreover, I am also visited by fresh images when walking briskly to get something to eat. After completing an artwork, I will gaze upon it objectively, and in that moment, I will understand an aspect of the world, and will comprehend "humanity."
- When is your favorite time of day to create?
I often begin working on a new piece of artwork in the morning, when my tangible consciousness is still half-asleep, accelerate my pace from about noon until evening, and will usually finish it at night before I go to bed. I enjoy working on graphic art at any hour, but late at night, when it is quiet and there is no natural light, is the best time for doing the meticulous work of adjusting colors and tones, and I particularly like working at this time of the day. I also love those moments at daybreak, when the air is fresh and perfectly clear and tranquil.
- Does art help you in other areas of your life?
Precious life experiences become learnings for the self, and those learnings, through the expression of art, become realizations for the soul. My relationships with people have almost always come through the act of creation, and so, my first steps forward as a human were begun last year, at the age of 40. During times of confusion and suffering, art served as the compass of my life, blessed me with many wonderful meetings of chance and fate, and happiness, and thanks to art, I still manage to cling to life in this world. From now on, I hope to continue being involved in artistic expression, so that I may help provide guidance to others who are lost and suffering, just as I was.
- What's the purpose or goal of your work?
I believe that the goal of my artwork is the "purification" of the world. I feel that the goal to which I should aspire, as well as this life of mine, are like the shimmer given off by heat. And I believe that the act of exhausting every last ounce of energy while I live will make my birth a worthwhile endeavor. I will continue to give thanks to each and every day that I breathe, and face the essence of my work, plainly and simply, daily, just as the beat of my heart pulses like clockwork.
- If you think at yourself, where do you see your art going in a couple of years?
Since the end of 2019, I began producing graphic art, managing to scrape along while finding time in between my regular work. The fact is, however, that I have only managed to devote less than two years to producing graphic art, and I am not certain whether I have even finished the mere warmup stage of such a career.
What I am certain of, however, is that both my work and I myself exist as a mirror held up to this world, and within two or three years, should become brighter, and more colorful.
Even if my artwork will eventually lose their master, I pray, with all of my heart, that the traces of my existence will quietly take root in this earth, and the tiny fragments of myself will soar away to that great, expansive sky.
ApuliaAste carefully selects the works of emerging artists to be proposed both at auctions and on display in organized events. Among the works produced by emerging artists available, it is possible to remember those of Vittorialessia Brunetti, Cinzia De Vita, Sasha Marie Speer, Danny Germansen, Kristin Vollarth, Ferró, GeeksArt, Leo Viridis, Anna Weichselbaumer, Krisztina Arláth, Masaki Hirokawa, Jiaqi Pan.
- 自己紹介と作品についてお聞かせください。
私の両祖父は神社仏閣を建てる宮大工でした。父方は学業に恵まれ、母方は芸術に恵まれた血筋です。祖父母の寵愛を受けて育ち、16歳に迎えた祖父の通夜に初めてデザインをしました。それからこの道一筋で二十五年の歳月が流れました。
私がこの家系を生家に選んだのは、魂の課題として「一見相反するもの同士の調和」と「あらゆる属性と価値観の融合」の二つがあり、作品の命題としてよく挙げられるのは「平等」や「無差別」という概念です。
しかし両極性が齎す試練の先にある “多極化”から沢山のことを学び得た今、新しく課題として挙げられるのは、多次元間のシームレスな移行、意識の点在と散在、そして完全に分け隔てのない慈愛の心です。
今の世には釈迦や仏陀のような方が大勢生まれて来ており、大変な世ながらも、私は師と学びの多きこの時代に生まれて来たことを幸運に感じています。
私の人生の過程に作品があり、制作の過程に人生の縮図があります。魂からのシグナルを直観的に受け取る手段の一つが創作であり、そこから生まれた御縁の一つ一つが私にとっての宝です。
- グラフィックデザイン、スマートフォンアプリ開発、インタラクティブムービー制作、ウェブサイト制作、雑誌・書籍の執筆など、幅広い活動をされていますね。これらの活動をどのようにアートと結びつけているのか教えてください。
私は21歳の頃より、基幹システムの開発にシステムエンジニアとして携わり、現在も不具合を出すことの許されないスマートフォンアプリ開発を十年間、個人事業で継続しています。正確な仕事をすべく努めたとしても、約0.05%のユーザーの方はクラッシュの影響を受けており、その僅かな数値に真理と人間との歴然たる隔たりを感じ、常に忸怩たる思いがあります。
グラフィック作品の総ファイル容量は短編映画と等しく、数百の層（レイヤー）によって構成・管理がされています。各レイヤーの名付けの規則や分類の仕方は、システム開発から学び得た構造化に則ったもので、ソフトウェアのバグを利用し機能を拡張することもあります（これらはプログラミング用語では “hack”、時に “黒魔術”と呼ばれます）。
また、写真家の方やモデルの方への礼儀礼節や作法として、原型を全て残す非破壊加工という手法を取っています。故に難解なパズルのような微調整を気が遠くなるほど繰り返すことになります。いつでも再修正が可能であることは、デジタル媒体に於ける制作の醍醐味であり、また欠点でもあります。これを逆手に取り、愚鈍に貫くスタイルを選びました。これから更に複雑化を極めるでしょう。
本来の私の性質は、上述の論理化や秩序統制とは正反対のものです。この二十五年間は、それを厳しく縛り、封じ込める生き方でした。しかし、まわり道の過程に沢山の恩人やスペシャリストとの出逢いがあり、一人一人をその道の師とすることが出来ました。お蔭様で現在の自分があります。今後は過去を乗り越え、己を制御する糸を断ち切って新しいスタートラインに立つことが課題です。
- 作品のインスピレーションはどこから得ているのでしょうか？
教会や神社へ行った後にインスピレーションを受けることが多いです。また、早足で食べ物を買いに行く時にもよく新しいイメージが思い浮かびます。完成した作品を客観的に眺めながら、私は世界の様相を知り、“人間”を知りました。
- 一日のうちで、制作をするのに一番好きな時間はいつですか？
顕在意識が半ば眠っている朝方に新しく作品の制作を始め、昼から夕にかけて作業のペースを速めて行き、眠りに就く前の夜に仕上げることが多いです。グラフィック制作の時間は何時も好きですが、静かで外光の無い深夜は精細な調色をするのに適しており、私はこの時間が特に好きです。明け方の新鮮な空気に澄み切った時間も好きです。
- アートは人生の他の分野でも役立っていますか？
貴重な人生の経験が自己の学びとなり、その学びがアート表現を介して魂の気づきとなります。私は創作を通して人と関わることが殆どでしたから、人間として歩みを始めたのは昨年、四十歳になってからです。迷い苦しむ時もアートが人生の羅針盤となり、沢山の素晴らしい御縁と幸運に恵まれ、お蔭様で今もこの世界に命を繋ぎ留めています。これからは同じように迷い苦しむ人々を導く為、アート表現に携わりたいです。
- あなたの作品の目的やゴールは何ですか？
私の作品の目的は世界の “浄化”であるように感じております。目指すべきゴールもこの人生も陽炎のようなもので、命を燃やし尽くしてこそ生まれて来た甲斐があります。これからも一日一日に感謝をしながら、心臓が脈を刻むように、毎日淡々と作業に向き合います。
- 2、3年後にあなたのアートはどこに向かっているのでしょうか？
私は2019年末より、仕事の合間を縫って細々とグラフィック制作を始めました。これまでグラフィック制作に充てられた時間は二年足らずで、ウォーミングアップを終えられたかすらも分からないのが現状です。
ただ作品も私自身も世界の写し鏡として在ることだけは確かで、2、3年後はもっと明るく彩り豊かになっているでしょう。
作品がやがて主を失ったとしても、私の痕跡がこの地に静かに根づき、私の小さな欠片が広い空へ羽ばたいて行ってくれることを、心より願っています。
