How does the inspiration she receives during her travels inform her work? We spoke to Sisyu, who has just returned to Japan after a solo exhibition in Paris.
Text: Taisuke Shimanuki Photos: Nariko Nakamura
"The sky in Paris is gray and purple, it really looks like an impressionist painting."
OnTrip JAL Editorial Department (hereinafter referred to as JAL): I hear that Sisyu-san travels all over the world for his solo exhibitions.
Sisyu: Recently, I have had many opportunities to exhibit in Paris, France. I went there just three weeks ago for a solo exhibition.
JAL: There seems to be a lot to discover when you travel to places far away from Japan.
Sisyu: That's right. For example, the sky in Japan is very blue and beautiful, but the sky in Paris is gray and purple, really like an impressionist painting. The walls of the shop are also skillfully decorated with green and purple colors, and every time I go there I realize, "Ah, French artists live their lives creating while seeing and feeling these colors every day as if it were a matter of course."
Sishu
JAL: So you pay attention to color when you travel.
Shishu: There's one more thing I personally have as my mission for traveling.
JAL: Mission? What is it?
Shishu: Buying works by artists active in the country I travel to and bringing them home. When I was a child, I used to talk with my mother about who my favorite artist was. While everyone else chose Van Gogh or Cezanne, I also answered, "I like Toulouse-Lautrec!" But my mother made me realize something important: "You should be more interested in people who are living in the same era."
As an artist, I want to be recognized by people of my generation while I work both in Japan and overseas. That's why I think there are many things I miss if I only pay attention to artists who died more than 100 years ago. I created this mission so that I can be conscious of people who live in the present age and are in the process of growing up.
JAL: It's a mission born from an artist's unique perspective.
Sisyu: When traveling to an unfamiliar country, we tend to just visit famous tourist spots. However, by having the antennae to encounter works by living artists, we have a reason to enter small alleys lined with galleries. By doing so, we can encounter local scenery that we cannot see just by sightseeing. During the trip, we can feel wonderful as if we are living in that city. Above all, I believe that buying and cherishing works by living artists is the greatest respect for that country.
JAL: What kind of artwork have you purchased so far?
Sisyu: For some reason, I have a lot of three-dimensional works. In Singapore, I bought a huge resin work in the shape of a carp, and in Australia, I bought a pig object with iron wings at a street market. Since I usually work with paper and ink, I may be attracted to spatial and colorful things.
A three-dimensional calligraphy piece created with European views in mind
JAL: Sisyu's works include not only two-dimensional calligraphy pieces, but also many works that are conscious of space, in which character elements are broken down and arranged three-dimensionally.
"Cubism of Calligraphy: The Scent of Flowing Water" (2017)
Sisyu: That's exactly what I mean by "Cubism in Calligraphy," which I showed in Paris this time. It's a work in which characters are floating in a transparent cylindrical space, and can be seen from above and behind in 360 degrees. It's a method of expression to visualize the strength of the brush pressure in calligraphy, with the stronger parts visible in the back and the lighter parts visible in the front. Since around 2006, I've been presenting several works in which characters are made into three-dimensional iron pieces, and this can be considered an evolution of those.
"Sabi" (2007). A calligraphy piece made of iron casts a shadow and appears in space.
JAL: Why have you produced so many works that are a departure from existing calligraphy expressions?
Sishu: I think the main reason is that we were conscious of creating something that would be "visible" to people in Europe.
The difference between Japanese and Western aesthetics is due to the difference in the "characters" they use.
JAL: "Making it visible" is an interesting expression.
Sisyu: Whether it's a painting or a movie, I think the way we move our eyes when we appreciate something is heavily influenced by the characters used in each country. For example, the hiragana characters "no" and "ma" are all written clockwise, but the alphabet characters "a" and "c" are written counterclockwise.
JAL: Now that you mention it, that's true!
Sisyu: I think that this kind of unconscious movement is not only present when writing characters, but is ingrained in our daily lives. For example, many Japanese people turn wine glasses to the right, but Europeans do it the other way around. It's a kind of habit that comes from writing characters hundreds of millions of times since childhood. That's why Westerners feel uncomfortable when they see pictures drawn by Japanese people in a clockwise direction. Because they unconsciously use Japanese expressions, the pictures "do not look" the way Westerners see them.
JAL: In the case of books, Japanese books are printed vertically from right to left, while Western books are printed horizontally from left to right. Perhaps we are so used to books from our own country that we can't comprehend anything different.
Sisyu: I think that if I just convey Japanese culture and customs that they are not yet familiar with, they will not understand the good points, so I incorporate "counterclockwise movements" that are easy for them to understand into my works. And I also include a little bit of Japanese clockwise movement in it. By doing so, they will be able to see it and feel the "Japaneseness". I use these things as clues and opportunities for Westerners to understand Japanese culture.
The contents published are accurate at the time of publication and are subject to change.
