Art is something you feel for yourself.

Y :

Getting up close, I see you’ve used forks, knives, spoons and such like here. And lower down there are works composed of little pots, stools, and boxes.

C :

Yes, everything I use in my works is everyday stuff. There’s nothing special about art; it just comes from everyday life. I see art as being life itself.

Y :

Including the stools and boxes used in the works on the floor?

C :

Yes, they’re all old things I picked up in Africa, China, Korea, Japan, and other places around the world. The important thing is that they’re all objects that are eventually thrown away.

Y :

Oh, I see. That’s interesting.

C :

Art doesn’t need to be explained. It’s something you feel in your heart. I like to say “Your heart is my art.”

Y :

So everything in this work is something that someone or other had been using long ago, right? In other words, there’s a story behind each and every article, and they’ve now become one piece.

C :

I assume you know the Korean dish “bibimbap”?

Y :

Ah yes, it means “mixed”, right?

C :

I think art’s like bibimbap, in other words, something you mix. “Gyre” too means “vortex”, which mixes things up. So you could see this space as somewhere that mixes everything up and circulates it.

The connectedness of life and art

Y :

This is really colorful and cute. It’s like a Christmas ornament.

C :

And it’s made of the kind of things that you’d normally find in anyone’s kitchen.

Y :

Dishes and stuff?

C :

Yes, dessert dishes, ice cream bowls, cups and so on. It’s plastic turned into art. So you see, life and art are connected.

Y :

Yeah, you can turn even the most mundane things into art, right?

C :

And the thing about works like this is that when you see them, you want to take a picture with them. And you’ll want to send that photo to someone, and show it around, and doing so generates words that can be shared, further stimulating your imagination.

Y :

Yeah, sharing can indeed give rise to such things.

C :

That’s connecting digitally.

Y :

This work too is another one in which you’ve used your perspective to make art out of everyday stuff, isn’t it?

C :

All I do is invoke the soul from the objects.

Chemical stuff, and fermented stuff

C :

Do you know what these are?

Y :

Are they pillows?

C :

Yes. They’re all old Korean pillows that I collected when I was a college student. Now, after many, many years, they’re seeing the light of day again in this form.

Y :

Pillows are really packed with the memories of the people who used them, don’t you think?

C :

Yes, they hold the history of your mother or grandmother or some other family member. And when you bring them together like this, don’t you think they begin to look like something else? To me, they emanate a kind of aura.

Y :

And this stain and so on hint at the life they’ve known. Maybe someone cried.

C :

Yes, it’s like a documentary. They make you wonder, and you start imagining what stories they’ve seen. This exhibition contains both works with a spanking new, chemical feel to them, and works that bring to mind miso and kimchi, sort of fermented works. So this exhibition is both a confrontation between contrasting elements, and a combination of them. And that sparks communication too.

Y :

By “fermented”, do you mean something that tastes richer over time?

C :

Yes. You like kimchi, right?

Y :

Yes, I love it!

Can you hear the voices of the original users?

Y :

Are those washboards covering the entire wall there?

C :

Yes. When I made this piece four years ago, I named it “Encyclopedia”. This also has various stories to tell. Can you hear them?

Y :

Mothers’ voices, probably?

C :

When I showed this in Korea, old ladies who saw it cried. If they come with their grown sons or daughters, they can talk about how they used washboards like this to do the laundry when they were raising them.

Y :

Oh yes, I’m sure this work would strike a special chord among any mothers who actually used such washboards in the past. It would conjure up memories, creating something new.

C :

Right. And that’s enough. It’s how the viewer sees it that matters.

Creating with junk, infinite circulation

Y :

These are clearly pots and pans.

C :

Yes, all sorts of pots and pans joined up to become a single entity. All of them have been around for a long time.

Y :

I’ve seen pots like this at my grandma’s house.

C :

This one’s Japanese, isn’t it?

Y :

Oh, right, it’s decorated with a picture of plum blossoms.

C :

What was once a brand new product becomes the possession of a household where it’s used in everyday life until, one day, it’s finally discarded. And I go around collecting such junk and turn it into something else. That’s the overall theme of this exhibition too—infinity, infinite circulation.

Y :

It’s almost alchemy, isn’t it?

C :

Right. Alchemy itself. By combining them into one, something is born. And what’s more, that something makes us feel good, even though it was just junk before.

Man-made stuff eventually reverts to nature

C :

Do those look like rocks to you?

Y :

What!? You mean they aren’t?

C :

They’re polystyrene foam.

Y :

Wow! Even from close up, you’d barely know at a glance.

C :

This is my favorite work in this exhibition.

Y :

I didn’t know they made polystyrene foam this large.

C :

I found them all on the beach.

Y :

So they’ve come to have this kind of texture as a result of rolling around in the sea?

C :

I suspect they spent decades in the sea. I too had never seen this kind of shape before. Even products of chemical synthesis like polystyrene foam or plastics eventually revert to something close to nature.

Y :

Yes, indeed. Man-made stuff that’s all straight lines and sharp corners when it’s made becomes really smooth and round and really natural-looking as it drifts in the sea.

C :

I didn’t do anything to the polystyrene itself.

Y :

You just collected and stacked it, right?

C :

Making something like this by hand is actually quite difficult. You’d need water, waves, sun, wind, stones, sand and other such stuff.

Y :

Yeah, these are dirty in a totally natural way. I wonder what kind of a journey they made.

C :

Yes, where did they come from? I love their shapes. Don’t you think they’re beautiful?

Y :

Yes, beautiful. And the sunlight here is perfect for them.

C :

Yeah, I liked that too.

Y :

This exhibition has opened my eyes to the way man-made stuff comes to revert to and blend in with nature over time. To me, that’s a novel perspective. And people coming to see this exhibition can each let their thoughts wander in their own way as they look at these works, which is really interesting. That’s what art is all about, isn’t it?

C :

Yes, and that inspires conversation, so it’s very much like flowers blooming.

Y :

The title of this exhibition is also “Blooming Matrix.”

C :

Yes, I chose that title to convey the meaning that anything can become art, that everything can bloom like flowers.

The birth of another new story

C :

By the way, why do you think I make things like this?

Y :

Yes, why do you?

C :

The fact is, I don’t know. It’s just that when I find something that’s been discarded as junk and appeals to me, I get really excited.

Y :

So that’s when it starts, right? You sense there’s a story there.

C :

Yes. It’s as if the stuff is talking to me.

Y :

That’s interesting.

C :

Treating things with respect is all part of caring for the world. It’s the idea of “care and cure.” That’s why it’s interesting to show these works in a commercial building like this.

Y :

Yes, that’s true. After all, it’s a building that people come to shop at.

C :

Yup, they’re selling all sorts of new stuff here, but in the same place, I’ve used stuff that’s already died one death to create a really lively atmosphere.

Y :

Each and every piece of junk you’ve used in your works has a story, doesn’t it?

C :

Right. Having a story is really important.

Y :

And each and every person who views works that are a collection of such items invents another story of their very own.

C :

Children each have their own universe, don’t they? Everyone has their own universe, for that matter.

Special limited edition of 100

C :

I made these especially for this exhibition.

Y :

Piggy banks? Are they plastic?

C :

Yes. I made just 100 of them. The pig was originally much bigger, and its wings could flap. I exhibited one at Roppongi Art Night.

Y :

So these are a miniature version, right? There’s something about them that chimes with the other plastic works you’re exhibiting.

C :

Yup. And this year’s the Year of the Pig in the animal zodiac.*

Y :

Oh, right! A piggy bank like this brings back memories. I had one. They’re cute.

*In Asian countries and territories other than Japan, such as China and South Korea, 2019 is the Year of the Pig. (Japan calls it the Year of the Boar.)