During my month spent at studio Kura art residency in Western Japan I have collected many visual and audio observations that I then transformed into a catalogue of surreal botanical shapes and objects, the brightest and most notable memories from my time in the wonderful coastal land of Itoshima and Fukuoka.
I could have kept going with these kinds of painted sheets for ever really, as something amazing would come my way pretty much every other day, something worth making a note of and something I'd like to keep as a memory. But I decided to stop with the two full watercolors - one of a more natural direction, and another going towards the human-made. I enjoy them both alongside each other the most, enriching and completing one another.
I could have kept going with these kinds of painted sheets for ever really, as something amazing would come my way pretty much every other day, something worth making a note of and something I'd like to keep as a memory. But I decided to stop with the two full watercolors - one of a more natural direction, and another going towards the human-made. I enjoy them both alongside each other the most, enriching and completing one another.
Although both illustrations from the set are not strictly limited to the 'organic' or 'artificial' bounds, but rather taking a vague direction towards one or another while also borrowing some elements from each other. So, some organic shapes are influenced by human activity, and some man made objects follow organic ways of function, just like everything in this world is simulating and mirroring each other.
My mail goal when visiting an art residency is, first of, becoming familiar with the surroundings and sinking into the culture of that place. I am never fully sure what project I will focus on until I arrive and familiarise myself with the area, my artwork gets fully inspired by the residency and its location after many days researching the environment and local culture.
As much as I tried sticking to my new experimental area of objective abstractionism, I still felt it in my veins that I simply had to create a character that would help me encapsulate things I've seen and experienced.
This character is the face of the Itoshima coast and its green forest-covered hills, its sea-kissed sand and cliffs with eagles gliding in the sky, crabs hustling on the beach and rows and rows of lush cabbages gracing the farm fields stretching for miles until they reach the mountains.
I have also been exploring a new dimension to my work - gathering field recordings that will then serve to build a soundtrack unique to the area and my experience of residing there.
Foraged and filtered recordings start to form a hierarchy of patterns and rhythms that naturally fall together into a composition. It becomes an audio accompaniment to my visual journey, unique to the time and space it was nurtured in.
Please enjoy the final video journal with the soundtrack below or on Vimeo.
