Thank you to everyone who visited the group exhibition SCRAP & BUILD at aLbase in Tokyo. In this exhibition, artists with strong individual styles gathered around the shared starting point of "scrap materials" and presented works through their own distinct expressions.
Even with the same theme, each artist approached it differently, and the venue became a place where many interpretations stood side by side.
The leather I used in my work was given to me last year by a bag maker. It was not something collected specifically for this exhibition, but a material that happened to already be with me. In the end, however, it naturally overlapped with the theme of this show.
Although it may be called a "scrap material," to me it is simply one beautiful material among many. With circulation as the central theme, I painted caring for objects, the craftspeople who create them, and places that continue to be loved over time. The leather blends naturally into the work while taking on a new role.
Perhaps scrap does not mean something that has lost its value, but something whose perspective has changed. With a new touch and a new setting, it can once again connect with someone's time.
Circulation is the will to continue. If it does not stop, it keeps enduring while changing its form.
That quiet determination is what I placed into my F30 work, The Ones Who Never Stop Walking.
My sincere thanks again to everyone who experienced the work at the venue.
