Interview with SHUNSHUN
I wanted to express the healing of the sea through my lines
— shunshun
photography : shunshun
words : Reiji Yamakura/IDREIT
We could make an interview with a Japanese architect-tuned-artist, shunshun, who draws a detailed artwork with the ballpoint pen only. He describes himself as “Sobyo-ka (a person who draws).”
In the interview, we asked how he quit the architectural design job and became an artist and the theme of his abstract artwork collection.
In May 2020, the artist shunshun exhibited his latest work named ‘Light Sea (2020)’ for the exhibition at gallery GULIGULI in Osaka.
It was a big surprise to hear that you used to work as an architectural designer. What made you become an artist?
When I was a student of architecture, I loved architectures designed by Le Corbusier and Louis I. Kahn. I traveled around Japan and the world to sketch buildings and landscapes with a pen. In the following eight years, I worked as an architectural designer. However, after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, I started to wonder what I really want to do in my life.
Then I suddenly left the company. At that time, I was impressed by the magnificent appearance of Mt. Fuji and draw Mt. Fuji for the first time. After that, while thinking about my future, I thought what I wanted to do was drawing. I held a small exhibition at a small cafe in Tokyo. When I saw my drawing of Mt. Fuji brightened one of the audience's face, I thought, “My drawings may give people joy and happiness.” Then I decided to be an artist.
‘Sea/drawing (2013)’
When did you start to draw abstract art by lines only?
After I left my job, I moved to Hiroshima in 2012 and drew landscapes. One day, the gallery owner said, "I do not need a good picture. Please bring me a work drawn with unconscious lines." He also said that there is something we can learn from the life of insects.
I wondered what it meant that he does not want good drawings, then the silkworm suddenly came to my mind. Silkworms tend to eat leaves in one direction. So, I tried to have the same feeling as a silkworm and draw a dotted line from the edge of the paper. After pulling one line, go back to the second line and draw a dotted line again in the same direction. When repeating the simple work, I felt that my state mind and body appeared on the line. That work drawn only by the dotted line is ‘Sea/drawing (2013).’
After that, I made artwork that drawn only with straight lines. It was the beginning of the series that continues today.
Even after that, I've been thinking about how I can draw unconscious lines. When I draw a line, I felt that I could create a new expression by being aware of how I take a breath. That's how I created ‘Breath.’
‘Breath 13 (2019)’ was drew with blue black ink on Velin Arches printmaking paper. The custom-made frame was manufactured by local furniture atelier SASIMONOKAGUTAKAHASHI.
The frame of ‘Breath’ is also beautiful.
I met Yuji Takahashi of local furniture atelie 'SASIMONOKAGUTAKAHASHI' in Hiroshima, and Mr. Takahashi has been custom-made frames for me since then. I actually designed the blueprint for the frame. This frame would not be created without his high quality joinery skills.
You have even designed the blueprint for the frame! Your work and frame match perfectly. How do you choose the theme of your artwork?
I want to draw both abstract and representational art, so I freely draw what I want to show.
A representational work ‘Forest in Finland’ and the drawing process.
‘Byakugun (2017)’
There was a time when I started to draw rains; it began to snow outside. It was bright snow, and as I draw drawings while watching the snow falling, my feelings became whiter and whiter. Finally, I finished whitey abstract work, not a work of rain. I named it ‘Byakugun’ (Byakugun is a name of traditional Japanese colour, also it means the group of white things). In such abstract work, I want to show the phenomenon itself and the particles in the natural world.
‘Shikaku to Maru (2018)’ is a work drawn for a traditional Japanese hanging scroll ‘Kakejiku’. The title means square and circle. After meeting craftsman for delicate glass-made pens and scrolls, shunshun decided to create a work for Kakejiku with Japanese washi paper and calligraphy ink. The work represents the unity of Western and Eastern culture.
Do you have any thoughts or ideas to get influenced so far?
I think a Biologist, Shinichi Fukuoka's concept of “dynamic equilibrium” influenced my thought. Each line can draw once in a lifetime, and I feel that the group of lines is a part of dynamic equilibrium. One day, I saw a macro photographed picture of a needle and groove of phonograph record in a photobook ‘Hari to mizo stylus & groove (photographer: Keigo Saito).’
I felt that the parallel grooves and the needle were the same as the relationship between my work and pen. I record a landscape like a groove on a phonograph record, and people saw my work and reproduce that landscape through their eyes. I have that kind of image. I think it is the mysterious role of the body.
An exhibition ‘sen’ at CAFE DU GRACE 921 GALLERY in Okayama Prefecture, 2017.
‘Suiheisen | Maboroshi (2019)’, a work for ‘KIRO HIROSHIMA THE SHARE HOTELS.’
What kind of work do you do recently?
My current major three works are having an exhibition of my artworks, drawing illustrations for books, and commission work by customer's order. My paintings were used on clothes at the request of a fashion brand. Recently, I have more requests to draw pictures for hotels and car showrooms. I'm thinking of working on such new challenges positively.
‘Light sea (2020)’ is one of the largest drawing.
Lastly, please tell me about the large-scale work ‘Light sea (2020)’ currently exhibited at a gallery GULIGULI in Osaka.
I wanted to draw the sea with lights on a large canvas of 1620×1303mm. The idea came from the sea I saw, and my memories of impressive scenery encouraged me in the past.
Based on that, I wanted to draw the sea with light. The sea gave me the feeling of praying and healing, so I also wanted to express those feelings. I often draw the sea because I was born in the seaside town. My childhood memories stay horizontal with the image of the sea.
It would be great if my work opened up people's sensibility to nature and motivate them to see the sea or go travel.
The artist shunshun designed his drawing collection book ‘DRAWINGS II’ by himself. He said that creating book is fun like making a small architecture.
At the end of the interview, he talked about the charm of drawing of hand in such digitised modern times. "It is more rational for machines to draw lines repeatedly compared with doing it by hand. However, I believe that using an analog body and perform work close to machine add the mysterious taste of body on artwork."
SHUNSHUN
shunshun / artist Born in Kochi Prefecture in 1978, grew up in Tokyo . After worked for architectural design for 8 years, he switched careers from architect to the artist. Move to Hiroshima from Chiba Prefecture. As an artist, shunshun exhibits his drawings all over Japan and Taiwan.
