Kojiro Kisaka

Based in Finland and now lives in Kyoto, Japan.
Kisaka Kojiro is an interdisciplinary artist.
His work cover paintings, performing arts and researching of art and creativity.

1991 Graduation from the Department of Western paintings at Kyoto Seika University

-Awards and Fellowships
1994 Prized at Jyväskylä Art Association Exhibition (Finland)
1995 Invited to participate in the Finland Summer Festival
1994, 95 Sponsored by Jyväskylä City for solo exhibitions
1996 Funded by Jyväskylä City for a stage design project
Art stage work selected for Finland Winter Festival
Awarded fellowship for stage design and stage direction
by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Finland)

木坂宏次朗

美術家(現代美術)

フィンランドでの作家活動を経て、現在京都を中心に活動。個展での作品発表の他、舞台芸術の制作、またワークショップ、講演、学会での研究発表も行なっている。

1991 京都精華大学美術学部造形学科洋画 卒業
【主な賞歴、および奨学金】

1994 ユバスキュラ芸術協会公募展(フィンランド)入選
1995 フィンランドサマーフェスティバル 招待作家に選出
1994、95 上記の受賞、選出に際しユバスキュラ市個展開催へ奨学金授与
1996 ユバスキュラ市より芸術舞台制作のための助成金授与
フィンランド ウインターフェスティバルに芸術舞台選出
フィンランド政府、文化庁より舞台美術作品監督業に対し奨学金授与

The Still Point

In Zen Buddhism, the word okko refers to the infinite expanse of universal time and shuyu, on the other hand, means an instant. The combined expression, okko-shuyu expresses that eternity is contained in the moment.

The players of tsunami, the small, hand drum used in traditional Noh theatre, release a sound before striking their drum. The moment between this sharp vocalization and the taunt sound of the drum is called a komi. During the time that players “ take a komi,” as they say, they insert a prayer or intention. The prayer/intention is not merely for the moment. It’s of the moment, but it comes from the passage of all time. This prayer/intention which begins as an inaudible vibration, will later take on form. On the Noh stage, the way the tuzumi player nurtures and weaves this prayer/intention into the pray, and the prayer/intention itself, matter more than the actual sound of the drum. The art of Noh lies in the tone of the prayers or intentions.

This series of painting uses the four symbols of earth, water, air and fire in the context of the “Four Quartets” by T. S. Eliot, This is an experience to express the Still Point where eternal and present cross over. This is also an experience to produce the artist’s view before the words were born and to draw a landscape that was acknowledged by words.

Pictorial art is one of the most primitive forms of expression. Painters liberate the three-dimensional emotions produced by their five senses and depict them on a two-dimensional plain. When we appreciate paintings, we are reaching through the work itself into the moment the painter created the work. That means, we experience two different moments simultaneously: the points of initiation and completion. In the moment of appreciation, as we stand facing the work, we do not experience a defined time, any more than the painter did in the moment of creating the work. At the same time, in the “journey of appreciation,” when we stand before a work, we come to know its world through our experience and intuition, and see ourselves reflected in the painting.

I intend for The Still Point series paintings to enable the viewer to transcend time in this way and to provide a pristine mirror that reflects the onlooker. If my paintings can be such mirrors, I feel this intention will spread beyond my known universe to repeatedly ripple back in the experiences of others, across generations at all times.

December 2013
Kojiro Kisaka

The Still Point (静止点)

禅の言葉で「億劫須臾(おっこうしゅゆ)」という言葉があります。億劫は宇宙的なほど限りなく長い時間。須臾はほんの寸刻を意味します。億劫須臾はおそらく審議は両義性にあるということでしょう。
鼓の打ち手は、音を出す前に声を発します。音が出るまで、その声と打ち手のわずかな時間の間を「こみ」と言います。彼らは「こみをとる」と言い、そのわずかな間に祈りを込めます。その祈りは瞬きの間の祈りではなく、月日をかけたひとときの祈りであり、その祈りが音(形)となります。能の舞台では、どんな音を出すかということよりも、どのような祈りを持ち、育み、その祈りを「こめる」のかという姿勢に芸術の命をおいています。

作品はT.S.Eliot著『Four Quartets(四つの四重奏)』の長編詩に含まれる様々なテーマを背景に土、水、空気、火の四つの象徴を経てStill Point(永遠の時間と現在の時が重なる時)を表現しようとする試みです。また言葉が生まれる前の体験、言葉によって認知される以前の景色を作品にしようとする試みです。

絵画表現は最も原始的な表現のひとつです。五感を通した立体的な感情が二次元の世界に解き放たれた時、鑑賞する私たちは作品を通して作者の創作の時間を遡ります。そして、作品の出発点と終着点を同時に(ひとときに)体感することになります。そこには作者と同じく時間の概念は生じず、ひとときの作品との対峙となります。しかし、この「鑑賞の旅路」においても結局は作品に向かい合った時、人は自らの体験と直感をもって作品の世界を知り、自分の姿を作品に映し出すこととなります。そのため、作品が鑑賞する姿を曇らすことなく映し出す澄み渡った鏡となって存在すれば、作品の中にある意義が、作者の見た世界のみにとどまらず再び幾世代の人々の体験を含み蘇ってくるように思われるのです。

2013年 秋
木坂宏次朗