Trajectory of the Avant-garde
Nishinippon Shinbun Culture section
September 26 - October 8, 1988
fighting spirit stirred up
Kyushu-Ha is not something from the past. Kyushu-ha is not in the past. It is alive in my current
approach to production. Yasuyuki Ishibashi, a key member of Kyushu-Ha since its birth, speaks
from his six-mat atelier, which is covered with felt in the process of being painted.

“I am still fighting with Korean artists at the Japan-Korea Contemporary Painting Exhibition while
deepening exchanges with them, and I am also continuing to challenge new materials. I am also
working hard with Mr. Sakurai (Takami, France), Mr. Kikuhata (Mokukuma, Fukuoka City), Mr.
Ochi (Osamu, Fukuoka City), and others. Even though Kyushu-Ha has been dismantled, theirpresence still inspires my fighting spirit.”

Mr. Taiko is usually a quiet man, but when he talks about Kyushu-Ha, his fighting spirit comes out
in full force. Unlike the other members of the group, he speaks without drinking alcohol, whichmakes his words even more powerful.
At the Japan-Korea Contemporary Art ExhibitionBefore Kyushu-Ha was born, he had been selected for Nika Ten for three consecutive years
since he graduated from high school in 1927. In those days, it was much more valuable tobe selected for an award than now. He studied under the late Ito Shizuo of Kurume City,

who presided over Nika Seijinsha, and showed great promise for the future.

He chose the Kyushu-Ha because, "In order to win an Honorable Mention Award, I had torestrain my expression. At Kyushu-Ha, there were no restrictions, and there was themomentum of a serious competition among the artists, who were competing against eachother's works.

The history of Kyushu-Ha has been one of continuous struggle. The opponents were not
only the arts, the powers that be, and the center, but also the fellow artists. At thegatherings of the Kyushu-Ha, works of art were subjected to harsh criticism. For Ishibashi,
who believes that "when there is no fight, the pictures are ruined," Kyushu-Ha was acomfortable place to be.

He has participated in the Japan-Korea Contemporary Art Exhibition since its first edition
with Jutaro Yamauchi (Fukuoka City), a colleague from Kyushu-Ha, "It is a place to explore
the unique space of the East, which is different from the West, and their enthusiasm todraw the world's attention to Korea is amazing. We must overcome them.
Be aware of rivals
In 1968, when Kyushu-Ha was in the process of being dismantled, he retired from Nishi Nippon
Railway Company, where he worked. He was 38 years old at the time and had two young children. It
would be a long time before the unprecedented boom in painting would arrive, and the works of local
abstract artists would not sell. He tried hard to persuade his wife, who was opposed to his retirement.
He told her, "It was my decision once. I will feed my family even if we are poor," he told her.
“During my time at Kyushu-Ha, I was confident that I could endure my poverty, since I shelled out
my entire paycheck for every exhibition."t was the presence of rivals that brought about the decision. At the time, Kikuhata's Roulette
series was attracting attention from art journalism in the center of the country, and Sakurai andOchi were on their way to the United States.

It is not surprising that Ishibashi became impatient when he was asked to edit the pamphlet for
the third Kyushu-Ha exhibition in San Francisco. The three of them were betting on art alone.

Ishibashi retired and taught at Fukuoka International School and painting classes, and painted
beautiful water drop pictures that were relatively sellable. However, "my wife earned most of myliving expenses," he said. Under these circumstances, he continued to pursue the beauty ofcolor and composition. He entered various competitions and group exhibitions, including the First
Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan (1966), and held solo exhibitions, producing a large numberof works.
Integral to the material

At one time, Kyushu-Ha's trademark was "black," using coal tar and asphalt. Ishibashi wasthe first to use coal tar. He said. When you are faced with a new material, you haveexpectations and at the same time anxiety. But the beauty of it is that I feel I'm creating
something that keeps me out of a rut."

I used paint, lacquer, and anything else I could get my hands on.
After Kyushu-Ha, I also used canvas, plywood, burned and stacked newspapers, andbread. ・・・・・・・. In the exhibition "Kyushu: The Will to Possibility" (Yahata Museumof Art, 1973), he colored fragments of actual asphalt pavement and laid them out on theroad.

“Now I also work with felt with an iron. I try to use the strength of the material and makeit one with myself, which I think is the same as during my Kyushu-Ha days," he says. Lastyear, he held a two-person exhibition in Seoul with a Korean abstract artist, Choi MyeongYong. ”I had the same enthusiasm as when I hit Tokyo," he laughs.

I have been working with "white flat space" for the past dozen years, and I presented "blackflat space" in my solo exhibition this year. I create my own oriental space with theprimordial "white" and the last color "black. ” I want to create an abstract world like anemaki or a rolled-up letter," said the man who lives in the mood of Kyushu-Ha
enthusiastically.