Make “the Existence” Art | Ichitaro Suzuki | TEDxAnjo

Translation: Shimada Tomoe proofreading: Hiroko Kawano

Nice to meet everyone

I am a sculptor and called contemporary artist Suzuki Ichitaro

I am making such a work

It’s like a piece I have in this hand

I am making works using a technique called “pixel art”

Does not everyone have this experience?

For example, when I actually met a person I adored

It is a little different from the image you saw on TV or photo

Let’s bring this story closer to the sculpture story

Do you know any famous statue of this David?

So do you know the size of this statue of David?

It is located in the Accademia museum in Florence

This Michelangelo made David statue

Height is a big sculpture that is over 5 meters

Also can you imagine the back of David’s statue?

The image of the statue of David in your head is

Is not it just the image of the real face like this picture?

I am a modern child

I love the Internet, video games and computers

Shameful despite being a sculptor

With my own eyes I actually saw famous sculptures from all over the world with fingers

I have seen most of them only on images of the Internet and textbooks

Why I am interested in sculpture

And is this expression as a contemporary artist

I would like to talk about today.

The town where I grew up is very rich in nature

And it was a very small town around the house with only mountains and fields

Even in such a small town

My house was famous as a slightly strange house

The main building is a newly built wooden building

A bungalow was built in the garden

This bungalow is my father’s hobby

It was built by me and my father

I made this bungalow when I was in elementary school lower grade

Actually I wanted to play with friends

Because he was a tough father

The precious time of my childhood was spent on the construction of this bungalow

I still feel a bit hungry about my father

(Lol)

So long ago I was eight years old in 1996

In the world the game called Pocket Monster was prevalent

I was not being bought a TV game by the educational policy of my house

Resentment of grudge that the age of childhood play was crushed

And from the sense of alienation that only I have no Pokemon in school

At that time I was desperately asking my father to get Pokemon at last

Then my game fever explodes very much

I saved my pocket money and bought various games

At that time it was about time when personal computers began to spread to homes

I remember having a strong interest in computers, the Internet, etc.

Among them, the rich nature around and the father’s do-it-yourself carpenter –

Although it is not a level of a do-it-yourself carpentry – while helping

I also love computers.

I grew up while incorporating the feeling of both analog and digital into myself

And as I became a high school student I went to a high school with art department

After all the influence of my father was tremendous and I was familiar with making things from everyday

I came to want to study sculpture

Also, because my grades of art were excellent

I thought that I had art talent

But that was a big misunderstanding

There were a lot of talented people in the art department

When I saw the work of those people

Because I was just seriously taking classes

I realized that the achievement of art was good

And in the entrance exam of the University of Art I failed

I will start sending a ronin in life

In that ronin’s life

I desperately studied drawing skills and sculpture skills for exam preparation

By doing so, the following year I was able to pass the art college

At that time, I thought that “Actually I was not good at art”

From the complex “I’ve done a ronin”

I could not get out of the sense of the exam

Even after I entered college, the undergraduate 4 years

I still remember that I could not make my own original work

And then I will go on to graduate school

I arrived at a certain theme when I was newly enrolled in graduate school

It is a ghost

When I am walking down the street

There was always a bouquet placed at the intersection

It was probably due to a traffic accident

I think that it was a bouquet set for those who were encountered

I do not know about the traffic accident

However, although it is just a flower, I felt a strong presence in that space

I feel this feeling of presence even if there is no real thing

I came to want to incorporate it into my sculpture work and make a work

This work is based on this theme “ghost”

It is literally transparent plastic called transparent resin

It is a work imitating the shape of clothes

I made a series work called “ghost of things”

Mono and past things that are forgotten in everyday life

And the image in the head only

I thought about shaping with transparent resin

Although these works received a certain evaluation in the university

I thought that I could not earn my own originality yet

One time to the professor “Although this is certainly transparent, since things actually exist

Up to the point that you can express your presence even if there is no real thing like you

Is not it possible to reach it? When I received an indication that

I never thought “I certainly do.”

While doing so trial and error I thought of my work

Actually I was going to graduate school while taking care of my grandmother at that time

I was worried about making the work I got to worry about my grandmother’s care facility

By talking to her and taking care of daily life

I had peace of mind

Even so, as long as care is difficult

I am busy in life and nursing care

The time that I can think about my work has decreased rapidly

I can not help it so I am more

I thought about getting hints of making works from within my life

Without thinking about the most difficult things, I am trying to make a fun work for myself

From a game that is my hobby

It began to think about the idea of ​​the work

And for me it’s a Pokemon if it’s a game

At the time Pokemon released

Using the pixel art technique that has been used much more

I began to think of making my own work

A piece made at that time is such a work

There was one interesting discovery when I made this work

When you take a picture of the work, the characters in the game

It felt like it appeared in reality

Because of this

Although it is making sculpture, on the assumption that the work is photographed

I came to think that it is interesting to try making

And I thought that I would deepen this work more and more

And adding this sculptural problem with this work

I thought about making a work with an ancient sculpture as the theme

This is that work

I applied for a competition with a production plan of this work

Then I will go through the examination

I was able to create works while receiving assistance

I was very pleased that I could create my work as my first job

My grandmother was pleased with it

And finally this work could win the Grand Prix at that competition

Unfortunately my grandmother passed away during the presentation

It was not possible to make that report

I am familiar with the experience that “Grandmother dies”

Once again “ghost” or “do not exist as it exists”

I had to think again deeply

And, “what is being existence”

I was pressed to think strongly once again

[Presence]

My grandmother died

I never felt a wonder and loss feeling

Because I felt my grandmother’s presence still familiar

Since my grandmother died

I came to graduate school from the house where she lived

Under those circumstances what she used for life

I felt her presence by looking and touching

Also by recalling the figure she was there and the conversation that she shared

I felt close to the existence

Because I loved my grandmother

I took a lot of her photos and videos

Even if you lose it by doing so

I can feel the presence of my grandmother

I was able to remember the days I spent together as a whole

So I did not feel a sense of loss

I am in this sense

I thought that the theme I really want to express is hidden

I tried to unravel inside my head again

From here on about what I think “existence”

I would like to speak

What do you think are the existence?

Can it be touched?

Or is it not touched?

There are certain things that can be touched

But is it only existence?

This leo is a motif of Shiba Inu which my friend keeps

In fact, I have never met Leo.

I adore it though

I can not actually see you because I am allergic to animals

But I asked a friend

I sent many photos and videos of Leo

By doing so, Leo’s shape and shape gradually builds up in my head

It is imagination to the last

I can make Leo in a moment in my head

I feel the same illusion as I feel in TV games

Certainly events in the video game are not actual events

Characters appearing in it are not real entities

But when I was playing Pokemon back then I truly traveled

And struggling with friends and confronting various difficulties

Ultimately kill the boss

There is a sense of accomplishment that “Became a Pokemon Master!”

That feeling is among me

It exists as a strong feeling that is inferior to the actual experience

This kind of feeling is my personal feeling to the last

I am familiar with the internet, computers and video games that live the modern era

Is not there a part that you sympathize with everyone?

For us living in such a modern age

In fact, this kind of interaction with the face

The interaction which actually does not meet like the exchange on the Internet

Is there any idea to distinguish it?

There was a letter which interacts without actually meeting from long ago

In modern times, the sense of speed is increased and the reality is increasing due to advancement of technology

It is in such a situation that it is almost indistinguishable from actual communication

And TV games and video expressions etc

Reality is getting more remarkable than in the past

Last year it was said that VR = the first year of virtual reality

Although the game world and the fantasy world are not actually in front of us

A device has also appeared that makes you feel like it actually stood in front of you

Things that do not exist in modern times are getting closer and closer to reality

There are many people who think negative aspects of such things

I actually can not meet you and lost things

By realizing a feeling for a place where we can not go

Such as to heal the hearts of people and give hope to people

I think that there are many plus aspects as well

Finally, I am calling for contemporary artists

Contemporary art is difficult among you –

And I think that there are people who have ideas that they are abstract and not well understood

So, you guys are contemporary art

Do you know what is made as a purpose?

Contemporary art is thought of people living in modern times and society

And how to catch things like philosophy

It is contemporary art that expresses it as a visible form work

And what is good and evil in modern society?

And what is beautiful and what is ugly? I mean

It is the role of our contemporary artists to put it in a visible form

My work changed drastically by modern society

Sculpture is built on the context of expressions that continue from ancient times

It has become necessary to change according to the situation of the present age

For everyone living in the modern era, I feel new feeling in my daily life

By expressing oneself what new ideas I came up with

I think it will be an art

Thank you for listening to my story today

(applause)