Commentaries by the Selection Committee 

Kenichi Kondo (Senior Curator, Mori Art Museum)

This was my first visit to the Takehara Townscape Preservation District, where artists-in-residence and the exhibition will be held.  I was impressed by the beauty of the townscape with its various types of buildings constructed between the Edo and Showa periods, and I was confident that the residential artists would be inspired by the town. On the other hand, this area has a strong ‘power of place,’ and I was also afraid that the art works exhibited here might be overwhelmed by the ‘power of the place.’ We conducted a review keeping the environment of Takehara in mind.  

Although this was our first project, we received many applications from artists who are already active at the front lines of the art world, and it was not easy to narrow it down to just three artists. But we were able to choose from the recent works of the applicants. We selected three artists based on whether they are likely to create new works taking advantage of the painting media such as folding screens and sliding doors, whether they have the ability to create large-scale works, and whether their style is unyielding to the ‘power of the place.’ One of them, Mr. Taiki Arita, was praised for his references to emerging environmental issues, his experiences in various places of the Seto Inland Sea area including Takehara, and his ability to develop exhibits incorporating sounds.

Kenta Torimoto (Art Producer)

Prior to the selection, we carefully inspected the Takehara Townscape Preservation District and found that the urban structure of the mid-Edo period and realistic landscape of bygone days were beautifully preserved.  I experienced the calm atmosphere blended with people’s daily lives, and felt that this area is a very stimulating environment for young artists, and also a place with great potential for artistic inspiration.

Although the process of selecting work from a large number of applications was complex, it was an exciting experience for me to imagine how each artist would create art pieces in Takehara.

Ms. Yukari Ohira was selected because of her extensive experience as an artist-in-residence, her ability to express specific geographical landscapes in the form of folding screen paintings, and her sense of scale that can be applied to any environment. We believe that her work has the power to capture the characteristics of a region and reinterpret them from a unique artistic perspective.

I look forward to seeing how Ms. Ohira incorporates Takehara's culture and history and sublimates it into her art.

Naho Yokoya (Artist)

I would like to thank everyone who applied for the Shohekiga project. Before the selection, we also visited Takehara Townscape Preservation District where the work would be produced and exhibited, and had several discussions based on the application documents. This project is about ‘creating work that takes advantage of Takehara's nature, history, culture, climate, landscape, etc.’, so one of the selection criteria was whether the artists have the ability to deeply absorb the place during their residency – this also means whether they have research skills. Looking at the work of Ms. Kazuko Matsumoto, I felt that she has an outstanding sense of stability in terms of her response to the place, her research skills, and the fact that her work will be donated and remain on site after the project’s completion. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of ‘shohekiga’ she will create based on her past work with fresco.  Her art work has been seemingly quiet yet has a strong expressive power.  I want to see how her thoughts about daily life in Takehara will sublimate into her ‘shohekiga’ art.

Although I found many of the works of those who were not selected very appealing, I was concerned about the contents of the submitted applications. Rather than listing a large number of works in the application forms, I think that the applications would be more appealing if you would list the works that you can recommend with confidence. To convey the words and information, it would be effective to have an outsider’s viewpoint. I look forward to their future activities.