3331 Chiyoda Arts Festival: Scholarship Exhibition vol.5

Sponsor: 3331 Arts Chiyoda



■ Event outline
Since 2010, 'Chiyoda Arts Festival' has been an annual open participation event representing 3331 Arts Chiyoda's ongoing aim of connecting the local community with creative minds from far and wide, bringing out creative ideas and expressive forms and releasing them into the world at large. Now celebrating its 5th year, the festival continues to birth opportunities for creative encounters as artist from across Japan gather and intense curiosity and heated emotion towards the works are shared.

'3331 Chiyoda Arts Festival: Scholarship Exhibition vol.5' presents sixteen scholarship-winning artists selected for either judge or audience awards during last summer's '3331 Chiyoda Arts Festival 2014'.

Each work is as unique as its creator -- a self-taught painter praised for his intensely directed drawing method, a perfect balance of technology and art as achieved by programming teams, a set of works that cut deep into universal themes of gender and family in a humorous way, and more. Additionally, an intricately crafted work which won the hearts of the audience... An endlessly fascinating and broad representation of expression gathered in one place, providing a glimpse of the art scene from here on. The contest of selected artists as exhibited in the gallery treads beyond boundaries or geographic regions, thought to create an opportunity to experience fresh perspective and novel communication as well as an ever-creative visual stimulus.


■ Exhibiting Artist Information: Exhibition Category Scholarship Recipients
9 artist selected from over 200 submissions

[Kotaro Iizawa Award]
Artist name: Tenki Hiramatsu



Winning work: kitaru beki nanika no tame ni (tr.: For something to come)

▼Introduction
The viewer is pulled into Hiramatsu's gently drawn works and given a feeling as if a narrative begins here. The ephemeral story being depicted through the strokes is reminiscent of 'something' hiding within the work and is sure to stimulate one's intellectual curiosity.

▼Judge's comment: Kotaro Iizawa (Photography Critic, 'kinoko' Literature Scholar)
Aligning papers of A4 size and painting true 'form' with course strokes. Daily objects mingle within -- mountains, cups, 'Short Hope' tobacco boxes and the like. Interestingly, a monochrome appearance is created through the bleeding, pale character of the watercolor and somehow the impression of a self-portrait is given off. Come to think of it, Takuma Nakahira had a classic work of a similar title, 'For a Language to Come'. Given this and the fact that Nakahira would smoke a pack of 'Short Hope' daily, I've begun to think that the entire work may be an homage. It's a bit of an airy leap, but the work is quite attractive.

▼Artist profile



Artist name: Tenki Hiramatsu
Born in Wakayama Prefecture, 1986. Graduate of Nihon University College of Art, Design Department. Began painting. Select awards and exhibitions include the 'Geisai #19' Mika Yoshitake Award, 'Tenki Hiramatsu Solo Exhibition' at Hidari Zingaro, Kaikai Zingaro (2013) and more.


[Tomoko Konoike Award]
Artist name: Midori Kamimura



Winning work: Needleworks ・Reflection - 54 Regrets

▼Introduction
Crafted in the corner of her living room between housework beginning a year ago, the charm of Kamimura's embroidery pieces lies in their production style - defiant of artwork consciousness. After being acclaimed during public critique, several plans had already been born with the current Scholarship Exhibition in mind.

▼Judge's comment: Tomoko Konoike (Contemporary Artist)
I felt that among the many works that are made to be 'artsy' or 'artistic', this particular work has an energy unlike others; it presents an avaricious concentration to simply make things. Its completely unpolished quality is wonderful. Regardless of what kind of facade we build up in regards to the decided concept, form, or materials of the work, we will end up seeing a completely unrelated, completely important 'core' of the creator. To say as much, this absurd rule is satisfied here. As to whether the creator herself is aware of the existence of this 'core', I believe it can be felt gradually by creating things while living. Even if more awards are won, it is a fact that those awards will never ever have any relation. And so the same thing could be said to all fellow award winners. Although inconsistent, inconsistency is human, and the arts are a singular element of being human.

▼Artist profile



Artist name: Midori Kamimura
Born in Mie Prefecture, 1960. Graduated from Kinjo Gakuin University with a major in sociology. Kamimura produces needlework in between housework in her living room with focus on the themes of 'emotional wounds' and 'reflection'.


[Nameko Shinsan Award]
Artist name: Piroyo Masuda



Winning work: shometsu no kiruto (tr.: Disappearing quilt)

▼Introduction
Produced within the themes of love/hate towards men, the 'female role' and dysfunctional family, Masuda's works powerfully uncover both contradicting sides of male and female, family and self, beauty and ugliness. The duality of the work and theme itself are cast differently on the viewer depending on the distance from the work.

▼Judge's comment: Nameko Shinsan (Cartoonist, Columnist)
From a distance, there's a stylish and somewhat elegant pattern. Yet when you approach, gazing, a motif of male and female genetalia appears... But without noticing until being told, the work acts like a Rorschach test, experimenting with the viewer's sexual literacy. Further, it subliminally awakens one's human instinct. If worn as clothing, you could likely aimlessly attract both genders... it would be 'mote fuku' [attractive clothing] in its truest form. Generally speaking there are casual metaphors everywhere on earth - flora as symbols of female genitals, mushrooms as symbols of male genitals, etc. In contrast, Piroyo Masuda has sublimated this direct topic into this fantastic piece with sophistication. One cannot help but feel potential in this advanced mode of sexual expression.

▼Artist profile



Artist name: Piroyo Masuda
Born in Saitama Prefecture. Raised in a matrilineal family that runs a preschool. Practice involves the themes of love/hate towards men, the 'female role' and dysfunctional family. Select awards include first place in the 'Evening Best 8' segment of TOKYO MX Gojini muchu, 'Bijutsu Sutecho presents Shibukaru-hai' Final selection (2014) and more.
http://masudapiroyo.com


[Kazushige Suzuki Award]
Artist name: Yoshimi Otsu



Winning work: dialogue

▼Introduction
The fascinating bleeding and gradient of these works was created when the artist, soaked in water, shed her clothing thus transcribing them onto a single layer of dyed cloth. The transferred expression has trapped both time and the artist's memory into the work.

▼Judge's comment: Kazushige Suzuki (Gallery OUT of PLACE Director, Photographer)
Throughout the gallery, Yoshimi Otsu was unique in her awareness of the expanse of depth. Her practice redeposits the folds of time and experience that have been engraved in clothes through wear. While I don't feel that the method of transferring human experience and time from clothes is an original concept, the intentional planar transfer of the three-dimensional creases within the clothing onto cloth and the use of felt-tip marker in creating beautiful color formation and blurred pictographs was eye-catching. In respect to the implications of image transfer, I felt that photographic interpretation was also possible and considering the display method which capitalises on the characteristics of the work, we can expect further development in the future.

▼Artist profile



Artist name: Yoshimi Otsu
Born in Tokyo Prefecture, 1983. Completed a major in textile at the Production Design Department of Tama Art University. Uses fabric as a medium to express via bleeding or frottage. Major activities include 'Konsei II' Sao Paulo (2010), 'AOBA+ART' Yokohama (2013, 2014) and more.
http://002443.tumblr.com


[Masaaki Hirakata Award]
Artist name: Ribeka Kimura



Winning work: yamiichi (tr.: Black market)

▼Introduction
A performance in which the artist, dressed as an old woman with her eyebrows completely shaved, set up a stall in the gallery where she bartered original artist goods for visitors' eyebrows. When choosing eyebrows, a peculiar form of communication is created where the artist's intentions can be felt.

▼Judge's comment: Masaaki Hirakata (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Curator)
While it is not as if there were any lack of scholarship winners who were able to smoothly express themselves through their exhibited works, in selecting just one scholarship recipient from the multiple expressions all around, rather than perfection, my eye drifts towards works with exciting potential. Out of the entire venue, Ribeka Kimura's work gave off a strikingly alien and dangerous ambience. Although the exhibition location itself was an unusual corner, a dark air loomed that caused one to want to avoid involvement and walk away at a quickened pace. Though at this time both the creator and audience remain amused by the performance, I chose this piece as I can't help but be interested in the backdrop, delivery, and how the work could expand in the future. It had me thinking that I'd like to be shown her next work and again, it would be scary (laugh). I expect great things to come.

▼Artist profile



Artist name: Ribeka Kimura
Born in Gunma Prefecture, 1987. Graduate of the Design Informatics and the Oil Painting Department of Musashino Art University. Uses photography, installation, performance, etc. to create 'enjoyable' things. Select awards include 'Canon - New Cosmos of Photography' Honorable Mention (2011) and more.
http://ribekakimura.web.fc2.com


[Erimi Fujihara Award]
Artist name: Keigo Ogasawara



Winning work: POP

▼Introduction
The ceramic apples made using skills developed from education in sculpture illustrate the beauty of modeling and the fragility of earthenware. The work is participatory in nature; the apples act as tickets linking to the world. The self and the world - a light harmony shows through in the universal concept within the work.

▼Judge's comment: Erimi Fujihara (Art Journalist)
The wide variety of works gathered at Chiyoda Arts Festival - there were so many works I'd love to see take the next step that it was difficult to narrow it down to one. My reason for choosing Ogasawara's work was not only the the high degree of lifelike perfection of the ceramic apple collection but also that the work had been opened to society - further, that these two elements were implemented with such a light, creative attitude as in the title 'POP'. The idea of "giving form to unseen images" through spreading the apples, the receiving/not receiving feedback from the creator, and the act of trusting in the good intentions of the audience who bring home the apples - the work was in unison with Lee Mingwei's 'The Moving Garden' (a participatory work that has the audience bring gerber flowers with them, and hand them to strangers on their way home). While it is nice to establish the 'unseen self' i.e. 'I', as long as we notice otherwise unseen others, facing such a vast 'world' is not so bad. It is dull that the 'picture' that these apples portray converge into the shape of Japan's map. May the work somehow continue to spread throughout the world map too.

▼Artist profile



Artist name: Keigo Ogasawara
Born in Sizuoka Prefecture, 1985. Tokyo Zokei University Graduate, Sculpture Major. Works mainly with ceramic material to express themes of 'relation'. Select awards include the 'TAMA ART COMPETITION 2013' 3331 Award (2013), 'SCIF15' Spiral Encouragement Prize (2014) and more.
http://pop-dot-project.com


[Ren Fukuzumi Award]
Artist name: Kazuto Inui



Winning work: SHAVE_PARIS

▼Introduction
This self-taught painter makes use of ball pens and crayons to create works with labor-intensive strokes. And yet, these stacked actions accumulated within the piece convey a light and pleasant atmosphere, allowing the viewer an uninhibited opportunity to come face-to-face with the work.

▼Judge's comment: Ren Fukuzumi (Art Critic)
'Art' is not a competition for score like soccer, nor is it a competition for pieces like shogi. One must present one's work to the audience without any clear rules as to how the audience is to interact with the work. It can be a very solitary task. On the other hand, if one can decide on rules within themselves, loneliness withstood, one should be able to advance forward. Inui's 'SHAVE' was chosen because it conveys that he is moving forward little by little with repeated trial and error though rules he has set within his heart. Town landscape, plants, animals and the like are depicted. These are modest subjects, but upon close inspection one notices ever-so-carefully configured colors and lines. Note the focused observation of the subject and the coordinated hand movements that replace the subject with color and line. The artist is trying this method with each and every work. Divulging his unsettled thoughts at the open critique, he confessed that he was still in the midst of such trial and error. However, if that weren't the case, how would he be able to create art?

▼Artist profile



Artist name: Kazuto Inui
Born in Gunma Prefecture, 1977. Mostly uses colored ball pens and crayons. Recently holds interest in organic and misshapen shaped vegetables and the like. Select awards include Lenajapon 'Ananta no Sakura Iro' Excellence Award (2009), Illustration '174th THE CHOICE' Honorable Mention (2010) and more.
http://inuikazuto.tumblr.com


[Masato Nakamura Award]
Artist name: Mariko Mukumoto



Winning work: flower bed [series]

▼Introduction
A forceful awareness of space and form are conveyed through these sculptural works which symbolise 'landscape' around oneself, including mountains, pools of water, and flower beds. An exceptional sculptural strength can be felt from the distinctive scale and colour of the work, as well as the genuine molding desire of the artist.

▼Judge's comment: Masato Nakamura (Artist, 3331 Arts Chiyoda Supervising Director)
The series of planar photographs making up the planet on Google Earth may appear as a pseudo three-dimensional space, but in Mukumoto's case, no matter how the work is sectioned it becomes a believable three-dimensional space with a continuous minimalist plane. This form of expression which could be called neo-minimalism may seem stoic at first, but evokes a high density of fertile emotion. A purified reality is being built as if to mock an era headed for a reality which extends from a virtual one.

▼Artist profile



Artist name: Mariko Mukumoto
Born in Kanagawa Prefecture, 1988. Completed the masters course in sculpture at Musashino Art University. Mainly presents sculptural works using fibre-reinforced plastic. Select awards include CCC Exhibition 'New Creators Competition 2015' Award (2014) and more.
http://www.marikomukumoto.com


[Audience Award]
Artist name: Ayako Kuno



Winning work: ○

▼Introduction
The underpinning technique and time --full of meticulous detail first cast in wax, then replaced with metal and repeatedly configured into the piece--received much support from the audience. The surface of the canvas is reconstructed with both imagined parts and the inner workings of urban space.

▼ Comment from the office of 3331 Chiyoda Arts Festival 2014
With an originality and material sense demonstrated using integrated metal parts, Kuno's work stopped the tracks of many a viewer and earned the 'Audience Award'. The surface was produced with an amalgamation of fabricated parts casted using a precision lost-wax technique and creates a density and depth unique in charm. Though it hints at the urban space of Tokyo where the creator was born and raised, it is a result of the accidental nature of its production method rather than a reproduction of a map or guide. This personal reconstructed landscape represents a combination of notably high material sense and an insight beyond the city, making it a superb work.

▼Artist profile



Artist name: Ayako Kuno
Born in Tokyo Prefecture, 1983. Completed graduate school at Tokyo University of the Arts in the Craft Department (metal casting). Mainly creates works using a casting technique. Select awards include 'SICF15' Audence Award (2014), 'TAGBOAT ART FES 2014' Semi Grand Prix, '5th Rokka File' Award (2014) and more.
http://www.ayakokuno.com


■ Exhibiting Artist Information: Film Category Scholarship Recipients
2 brilliant works that triumphed in the genre-less film competition

▼Judge's comment: Masashi Kawamura (Creative Director, Founder of PARTY)
The two selected Excellence Award winners are so completely different from each other, I think it will be a good show of just how diverse this competition was. I thought that the graphical world view and animation execution of Kabuki's work had a unique groove to it and was wonderful. If I dare to comment, the dirty humour felt somewhat lukewarm, and so I'd love to see a work with a more polished concept, either by taking it up a notch or shifting motif. The other work 'How to wear sound' was to me very amusing as a simple experimental film with a suburb concept. But while the concept is strong, I thought it had room for more varied expansion. I felt that by incorporating a little more cinematic direction or an non-repetitive tactic it could become even more interesting as a 'film'.


[Excellence Award]
Artist name: Sawako Kabuki



Winning work: ANAL JUKE - anal juice -

▼Introduction
A filmmaker worthy of attention, Kabuki has won a number of awards at international animation exhibitions as well. The work holds a strong persuasive power as the artist deploys her own view of the world via pop animation, sprinkling her own experience into a fetish motif with a drug-like sense of color. In this exhibition, not only film but original works will also be presented.

▼Artist profile



Artist name: Sawako Kabuki
Born in Tokyo Prefecture, 1990. Graduate of graphic design from Tama Art University. Employed at an adult video company. Resigned. Currently enrolled in Tama Art Univerisity Graduate School.
http://uykom.exblog.jp


[Excellence Award]
Artist name: Ryoya Usuha



Winning work: How to wear sound

▼Introduction
This layered film demonstrates how two 'wear sound' through time warp, using cut rhythms and acceleration to turn usual landscape into the subject and everyday affairs into a very unordinary situation. Usuha delivers his abnormal 'space in-between' with a sense of humour. Viewers become drawn in without realisation, yet one may notice one's senses being sharpened while being possessed.

▼Artist profile



Artist name: Ryoya Usuha
Born in 1991. Currently enrolled in the Graduate School of Film and New Media in Tokyo University of the Arts. Select screening include Image Forum Festival (2014), Vancouver International Film Festival (2014), DOTMOV FESTIVAL (2013), Campus Genius Award (2013) and more.
https://vimeo.com/user9211153


■ Exhibiting artist information: Interactive category scholarship recipients
5 elected teams from the 3331α art-focused hackathon

▼Judge's comment: Aoki Ryuta (VOLOCITEE Inc. Founder and CEO, TEDxKids@Chiyoda Founder and Curator)
Through the improvised creation of works over three days by 50 artists and engineers, I was able to sense a tactic knowledge hiding within diverse fields that cannot yet be expressed in words. Assuming that signs of development towards the future are hidden within that tactic knowledge, then we might just be able to get a taste of the future through the fusion of technology and the arts. If that were the case, it might not be an exaggeration to call the coming together of artists and engineers 'modern prophets'.

[Golden Art Hack Award]
Team name: Pepper and human
KAWANO Takeshi/Visual Designer
Ryo Fujimoto/Artist, Humanelectro
Yasushi Sakai/Architect, Hacker
Erika Masumizu/Dancer, Performer, Choreographer
Tatsuya Ogusu/University Student, Artist, Programmer
Yusuke Suga/Artist
Takahiro Kitamura/Composer, Sound Designer
Yoriko Youda/Artist




[Exonemo Award (Media Art Unit)]
Team name: "I'm here." Project Team
Yuki Takada / Creative Director
Atsuki Kawahara / Balloon Artist
Naoshi Gyoda / Web Producer
Joseph Tame / Device Engineer, Performer
Ryo Shiraki / Device Engineer




[Kouichirou Eto Award (Media Artist, NicoNicoGakkai β Chairman)]
Team name: shiten no tenkan (tr.: conversion of perspective)
Laila Cassim/Graphic Designer, Researcher
Takuya Okamoto/Front-end Engineer
Kenichi Takahashi/Engineer
Takuro Wada/Full-stack Engineer
Makoto Shinzo/Artist, Housekeeper




[Dai Takeuchi Award (river co.,ltd. CEO, Forbes JAPAN Creative Director)]
Team name: sho no koshin (tr.: updated writing)
Ray Kunimoto/Musician
Makoto Taniguchi/Programmer
Masumi Yoshinaga/Female Calligrapher
Syohei Fujimoto/Hardware Engineer, Interactive Engineer
Takeshi Osoekawa/Data Scientist




[Hayashi Chiaki Award (Loftwork Inc. Co-Founder)]
Team name: Bio-Art Research Team
BCL - Yuki Yoshioka/Art Director, Bio-Designer
Motohiro Makiguchi/Service Planning Researcher
Akihiro Sasaki/Software Engineer, Service Designer
Kazunori Matsuyoshi/Embedded systems,iOS,Web App Programmer
Kojiro Seo/Creative Director, Engineer
Yuichi Yazaki/Designer