Into the Forest of Perception

A Field of flowers stretches out around me in all directions.
I stand fascinated by the dazzling, overwhelming yellow world of flowers before my eyes.
The silhouettes of individual flowers blend into each other, the mass of colors firmly implanting itself onto my retina.
This memory haunts me, as the afterimages come and go, in and out of my mind.

The images in my painting are very simple. In my view, they should not be too specific or too explanatory. These images should also be part of natural world. My images basically consist of silhouettes of the centers of flowers or of landscapes. The surfaces of the paintings are covered with multiple layers of transparent paint so that they, in a way that is independent of the visual images actually depicted in the paintings, actively appeal to the non-visual sensations in our memories: touch, taste, smell, etc.

These surfaces evoke, with their materiality, sensations lying deep within the depths of our memories.
The process requires no conceptual explanations or technique.

I have great interest texture. Or perhaps I should say, not just an interest but a sort of obsession. What is texture? Texture is the skin of nature, found in coexistence with the changing light.
It is our continuous journey, together with this changeable appearance of light, which takes us back and forth between the microscopic and the macroscopic worlds.

This light data surrounding me that I perceive through my sense of vision, these visible shapes and colors: to what extent are they real? And to what extent are they products of my imagination, or illusions fabricated by my mind?  

With the regard to works of plastic art, visual experience has for the most part, played an essential role. In addition, the recent years have brought about even further development and diversification of vision-oriented communications technologies and visual expression, as can be seen in the realization of visual video worlds through the use of CGs and of increasingly rapid image data transmission. Yet we cannot deny that our overdependence on visual information has led to a deterioration of the viwers' powers of imagination and non-visual perception. Exploring the relation between information and received via sight and the other senses, as well as the relation between visual information and memory, through active stimulation and training of the non-visual perceptions (touch, taste, smell, etc.) brings out the ambiguity and wonder of visual perception and is extremely interesting.


Membrane2004-light of one thousand

In the Higashiyama district of Kyoto, there is a temple of the Tendai sect of Buddhism, called Renge-o-in. This temple is commonly known as "Sanjusangendo" (Hall of Thirty-three Bays) because there are thirty-three bays, or spaces, between the pillers of the inner sanctuary in the main temple building. The extraordinarily long hall houses an impressive collection of one thousand and one images of Senju Kannon (the thousand-armed Goddess of Mercy).

A thousand golden lights shine darkly in the silence. The spirit knows no limit as it expands, taking part in the profound cosmology. The lights appeal to us, inviting us to become a part of this world. The sensory experience transcends the simple act of seeing.

More than once have I visited this place in the past and I can still vividly recall how, standing before the thousand statues some years ago, at the time when I had just started on my "Membrane" series. I felt a strong desire to "create a series of works consisting of a thousand membranes that would completely obscure the viewer's view". I am not a taking about a religious experience. It was just that the force of that staggering number, one thousand, and the light contained therein coincided with the world that I was seeking to portray in the "Membrane" paintings-the world with which we connect through the act of seeing.

It is my hope that through the one thousand membranes, and through the act of seeing, my viewers may take part in an experience that transcends the world of the paintings before their eyes.

Masahito Katayama

2004

(2007) Masahito Katayama All Rights Reserved.