Artist of the Month, Work of the Month.
Mai Miyake
It seems as though there is no way out of the economic deflation of the
recent years. Even Uniqlo who used to be a leading symbol of the very
few growing companies during the recession, has brought their stock price
down due to profit drop. We can clearly sense that everyone is tightening
their purse strings and has stopped buying solely for its cheapness.
On the other hand side, one might be able to say that if someone loosens
the purse strings to buy something under this circumstance today, that
something must have true value and appeal and is not simply an object
of investment-like speculative buying or surplus purchase that was often
the case during the economic bubble period.
Just then, I happened to hear about an artist who was very successful
in her first exhibition and had sold almost all of her approximately 30
exhibition works. Moreover, she had received individual orders for additional
production of her works after the exhibition. In total, she had sold about
60 pieces of her work.
The works shown on the right were the works exhibited during the occasion.
The outline, where you can see a mixture of innocence and clumsiness,
is charming and the violent colors which constitute the works are strikingly
vibrant and vivid. Yet, they are never loud or flashy. If I had to describe
them, it would be something like a refreshing freshness free of typical
Japanesque ﾒshadowinessﾓ. They give you a lift without any need for convincing.
In addition to this, the mounting which surrounds the art piece made from
fabricating well-crafted artisanal Chiyo-paper (colorful Japanese figured
paper), creates an exquisite synergy effect with the color palette of
the art works, bringing a pure and beautiful yet sweet atmosphere to the
works. Her great skill and taste in stylishly putting together a combination
that is apt to become a mismatch are formidable (By the way, the reason
why all her motifs are cats is because the exhibition was held at an art
gallery that specializes in works featuring cats).
Hereﾕs an artist who brought good news to my ears ﾐ something that doesnﾕt
happen much these days. I was very much interested in finding out what
kind of person she wasﾉand with this enthusiasm, I headed for the interview.
Her experience overseas as a child destined her to draw.
The artist known as Mai Miyake is not only an artist but also an illustrator.
She has been active in various fronts including designing for magazines,
picture books and stationary products ever since she was a student and
already has a career of 10-years. Even then, it was her first time doing
her own exhibition at an art gallery. She said that at first, she was
at a loss because she didnﾕt know her way about this kind of thing.
ﾒIt was my first time doing an exhibition and I was surprised to find
out how much the frames and Chiyo-papers for the mounting cost. I was
nervous and worried as to whether my works will sellﾉI have the heart
of a flea. Iﾕm a chicken, really (laughing).ﾓ
On the contrary, looking at her as she speaks with a look on her face
that says ﾒIt really was one heck of a taskﾓ, I can sense a childlike
innocence from herﾉI am convinced that she is a person with very few negative
feelings. This kind of person tends to make everyone around her lighten
up as well. With her in front of me now, the impression I got from her
works all starts to make sense.
Talking of impression, I mentioned earlier about her works having a refreshing
freshness free of typical Japanesque ﾒshadowinessﾓ. In fact, it turns
out that she had spent her childhood in Australia due to her fatherﾕs
business. It is not too difficult to imagine her unique art characters
being developed there, but more than that, she says that her basic desire
to draw has been cultivated during this period in her life.
ﾒEven a child, whoﾕs community is small and linguistic sense is still
vague, feels inconvenience living in a foreign country. In this sense,
drawing helped me greatly. I was able to make people understand and also
entertain them through drawing. Drawing was, in a way, a communication
tool that went beyond language. Over the years, it somehow became a means
of living for me.ﾓ
Synchronizing the Japanese sense of craftsmanship with artistic sensitivity.
Drawing meant communicating something to someone. It had no meaning if
you couldnﾕt externalize your feelings and the surrounding atmosphere
and communicate this to its fullest extent. Her job as an illustrator
begun from this same notion. For her, who had been working in a severer
commercial-based environment where self-satisfaction was not accepted,
creation was closer to craftwork and especially to that of the Japanese
kind.
ﾒMaybe I feel this especially strongly because I spent time overseas.
Either way, I am very much attracted by work with a strong sense of Japanese
craftsmanship as well as craftwork in general and they have influenced
my works. The idea of using Chiyo-paper for my works this time was not
only because I wanted something that was strong enough to be a good match
for the powerful and colorful palette of my works, but also because it
was my longtime ambition to experiment how my craftsmanship can collaborate
with the craftsmanship of traditional Japanese artﾉ
I have an affection for things that fit effortlessly into society, into
the everyday lives of the people and continue to stay there to make peopleﾕs
lives happy and more fun and when theyﾕre gone, you miss it. I want my
works to have the same effect.ﾓ
Even during her private time, she says she likes to collect cut paper
stencils for wood block prints and stencil dyeing. Her fondness for kimono
has taken her as far as holding her own kitsuke (kimono dressing) class.
Miyake believes that, as far as beauty supported by craftsmanship is something
that dwells in the everyday lives of the people, it is more natural for
the works to carry an element of modernity and reflect the atmosphere
of the times. For example, this is the very reason why she has chosen
to work on her illustrations on her computer this time, including everything
from color selection to print out.
ﾒI also use pastels, color pencils and watercolors, but this time I wanted
my works to be more matte, simple and innocent, and thatﾕs why I took
this approach. I believe that this enabled me to create works that better
suit the modern living space and move closer to a more life-sized and
present-progressive-form sensitivity. At the same time, I also didnﾕt
want to create something that was too realistic, na夫e and unstable right
nowﾉ
I believe that it is not necessary for me to create something that is
already overflowing in society. For example, right now there is a deluge
of undirected sense of stagnation and violence out there. Personally however,
I feel that just because these things are abundant in society doesnﾕt
mean that there is a need to create works based on that. What I wanted
to do was to actualize something that I was lacking of but wanted desperately,
something that I wanted to own more than anything else, something that
I wanted to be looking at more than anything else.ﾓ
Stacking pieces of happiness in everyday life.
This is how works of Miyake-ism come to life. She says that the source
of her works comes from an everyday-type of directly-experienced sense
of happiness that is scattered across various moments in her life such
as when she is taking a walk, riding on the train or spending time with
her friends.
ﾒI touch, I eat, I feel, Iﾕm happy, I feel goodﾉ Iﾕm attracted to happy,
fun moments even if Iﾕm not a part of it. Itﾕs an accumulation of all
my favorite things and happenings I gained from these kinds of experiences.
I take out everything from my personal specimen box, lay them all out
and create a work from there. Thatﾕs how I do it.ﾓ
She says that recently she has more opportunities to capture these happy
moments in her life. The reason being that she has recently quit her job
which was her main source of living and narrowed her career down to her
activities as an artist and was released from the rush of her hectic life.
At the same time however, she says there was a certain determination in
her mind.
ﾒIn my last exhibition, I felt that people have bought my works out of
their expectations for me. Thatﾕs why I felt that ﾔI want to create better
works in return for their kindness in spending time and investing in me.ﾕ
Iﾕm under pressure right now (laughing).
Of course I have worries. But I must admit that I feel excited too. Itﾕs
the same kind of excitement a house cat probably feels when it goes out
into the real world for the first time to catch prey. Itﾕs the first day
of the rest of your life and how you live it is entirely up to you. Thatﾕs
the kind of feeling I have now.ﾓ
Her facial expression as she speaks these words with a carefree smile
on her face is truly radiant and blitheful. She says that for the time
being, she wants to participate in various art contests which she didnﾕt
have time to participate in before. Maybe her positive attitude towards
life has paid off already because right after this interview, she received
a delightful news that her work has won an Excellent Work Award in a poster
contest. It seems that the day her works will make the world a more fun
and cheerful place is not too far from now. (Editorial Department)
Captions under picture:
Drawing by Mai Miyake for ﾒTomato Majyo No Majyo Shugyo (Training to become
Tomato Witch)ﾓ (Written by Sachiko Kashiwaba/ Published by Froebel-kan)
ﾒ5 Favorite Thingsﾓ from the group exhibition of picture book authors
held at the end of last year.
Her latest work which won the Excellent Work Award in McNeal Poster Contest.
The theme was a visual image of the headache pill, ﾒTylenolﾓ.