I am quietly working on my artwork.

Recently, I haven't been able to write as well as I would like. Especially since I came back to Hong Kong, it has been very difficult for me to write. This is probably because I have been taking in a lot of new information in preparation for my future art activities abroad since I returned from Hong Kong a month ago. Of course, I have also started working on a new piece of work.

Maybe it's because I started all these new things at once, but my head is in chaos and it's hard for me to write a coherent sentence. This time, my writing will be poor, but I'd like to record my current feelings so that I don't forget them.

nihon kamoshika

As I wrote in my blog the other day, participating in the art fair in Hong Kong has made me more enthusiastic about my future art activities overseas. So after returning to Hong Kong, I have been absorbing many new things while continuing my work.

However, when I'm abroad, I have to communicate with people who have different cultures and different values. Since returning to Hong Kong, I've been thinking about how to express what I want to say to people who grew up in a completely different country and culture than me.

It is not easy to give visible form to what you are thinking, but what I became convinced of through the Hong Kong Art Fair is that if I work hard, there will always be people who can sense the sincerity I have put into my work, even without me having to explain anything. This experience has greatly changed my previous values.

There was a time when I was struggling because no matter how hard I tried to express my thoughts in words, I couldn't get them across. After I met my teacher and discovered art, this problem was somewhat alleviated, but it is still difficult to express what I am thinking.

Just one year ago, I created something for the first time in my life, but I had a lot of trouble at the time. This is because, although I had expressed my thoughts in words and sentences, I had never expressed them visually. I realized how difficult it is to give a visible form to what you are thinking without using words.

But as I continued, I found that creating works was quite interesting. Before I met my master, I was obsessed with communicating through words. However, after creating works for a year, I realized the fun of communicating through art rather than words, and at the same time, my obsession with expressing myself through words began to soften.

This is made from Japanese serow droppings.

In particular, when you go abroad, communication through language itself becomes difficult. When I go abroad, I basically speak English, but I am not good at speaking English and I am not good at listening. However, there are cases where the other person cannot speak English well either. And, not only in terms of language, but also because we grew up in different cultures and have different values, it may not be easy to understand each other's thoughts.

However, when I listen carefully and try to understand what the other person is saying, there are times when the other person tries hard to communicate their intentions. There are also times when I can understand the other person's feelings even without understanding the words. Similarly, there are times when the other person understands my feelings without me having to say anything.

Also, whenever I go abroad, I always take my artwork with me, and people's reactions change when I have artwork with them. Of course, not everyone is interested in my work, but there are always people who can sense my attitude toward art just by looking at my work.

Even in Hong Kong, someone looked closely at my work. We didn't understand each other's language, but she still used a translation app on her smartphone to ask me lots of questions about my work. Incidentally, she is also a painter and knows the difficulties of creation, which is why I think she was able to appreciate the efforts I put into my work.

The moment I feel we have been able to understand each other without the use of words, I feel a joy that cannot be expressed in words. And when someone realizes through my work that I have dedicated my life to art, I feel very grateful.

From this experience, I felt like it was a lie that I had always been troubled by the fact that no matter how hard I tried to express myself, I couldn't get my thoughts across. Since becoming an artist, I have been hurt by many thoughtless words, but I have been saved by the thoughtful communication that took place overseas, even when we didn't understand each other's language.

Ｍy master and japanese serows.

So I feel a strong desire to communicate with people all over the world through art, and to do that I need to create more artworks.

Since returning to Hong Kong, I have been holed up at home for a month, working on my project in silence. This time, I am creating a new piece using a method I have never used before, so things are not going as I had hoped and I am struggling, but the piece is gradually approaching completion. I am looking forward to what kind of encounters I will have next through my new work.