‘Fragments in the air’, ‘Flying Flyers’ and ‘Books: Spiral Bound’.
In this exhibition, I am showing three different series. The first is ‘Books: Spiral Bound’, which was shown in my previous solo exhibition at Gallery-T in Fujisawa September 2020. The second is ‘Flying Flyers’ and the last is ‘Fragments in the air’. ‘Flying Flyers’ and ‘Fragments in the air’ will be exhibited for the first time.
‘Fragments in the air’, consists of drawings, which are nothing but doodles drawn while doing something different, e.g. suffering through boring meetings, writing texts and during lunch time in the days when I taught at school. In this show, I am focusing on doodles from 2005 to 2008, but there is a large 35’ year stock of drawings in this style. I would like to note that this automatism drawing style was my only and last resort to survive as an artist. In those busy days at school, it was sometimes hard to find even a short time to do art. Since my retirement in 2011, I have plenty of time to create and no need to doodle. However, from a different point of view, it is a fact that I am missing the most crucial and essential creative moments. In other words, all activities related to art have suddenly become the objectives under conscious control. I feel I am losing subconscious elements, a very important aspect of my art, and it is narrowing my freedom of expression.
‘Flying Flyers’, is an on-going project, where I am drawing, scratching and painting on magazines or flyers. I am adding something to printed images freely so that I think I will be able to be absorbed into these images from publications by designers and photographers. I think it is a different version of subconscious style drawing and has become important as an alternative to ‘Fragments in the air’ these past years.
Regarding the series of sketchbook,‘Books: Spiral Bound’, my attitude is the same as other two series. Here, you will see how I am struggling to introduce chance and make new works. In the process of my art, it is necessary to invite something from outside of me then I will be able to incorporate those new elements.
For me, art is an act of summoning rather than creating.
Kentaro Chiba
Works
1F Katagiri Bldg. 4-5-2 Asakusabashi, Taitoh-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN