About The Exhibiting Works ～From the artists interviews～

Ryuji Nakamura《Unrelated》
This time, I’m exhibiting two chairs and two pillars. One of the chairs has a wave motif. It wasmade by bending paper boards into a wave shape and layering them, so you can see various
wave patterns. The other has a water surface motif. I colored its grid-like structure in six colors
using colored pencils, so the colors shift depending on the viewing angle.
The pillars were designed to add character to the neutral, uniform space of the exhibition room.
They are made with the appropriate size and the same arrangement as if they were the structureof this building. In the first year of this Tsubaki-kai, I built a wall, and in the second year I put
up a rope, both of which were intended to actively create a relationship between the exhibited
works and the viewer, or between the works. These pillars were created as something that are
just there (in other words, something unrelated) rather than something that actively create
relationships. What do other artists and viewers feel and react to such pillars? Will any
relationship be born or not? If it is born, what kind of relationship will it be?

This is an attemptof asking such questions.
Relationship between pillars and chairs
Each chair is placed near a pillar, but the pillars exist as backdrops in the space rather than asexhibits, and the chairs serve to emphasize it. The chair and the pillar are related as theexhibition objects and the space, and these two form a single work. We are used to seeing thefloors, walls, and pillars of buildings, so they seem like nothing, but in reality, I think something
dramatic is happening there, and when you consciously look at them, it's really interesting. I
exhibited the work as I try to arouse visitors' awareness of such spaces.
I want people to enjoy each piece individually, but at the same time, my overall theme is space,so even though it is unrelated to the exhibition, it is a space that is related to and influences theexhibition in a certain way. I hope that people were able to experience this through the pillars.

《Unrelated》 2023

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Futoshi Miyagi《Reflecting the moonlight, the golden pen tip runs like the wave》 and 《Banner (fromOndine) #1-5》
I wrote a novel called “Ikuyo” in 2021, which coincided with the start of the Tsubaki-kai, so I've
been thinking about a lot of things based on that. The first and second years I featured in myartworks that the close relationship between the two characters in the novel who shared a night
together, and then, the two characters were separated but exchange letters and maintain arelationship from distance. I created installations and embroidery works with the theme ofbuilding a relationship. This time, as a continuation to that, I created the works of embroidery
on a photograph.
The work on the mezzanine, “Reflecting the moonlight, the golden pen tip runs like the wave”
is exhibited with a fountain pen called Onoto, which I have been using in my installation andvideo works since the first year. As my theme was letters, texts, and stories, I wanted to createa work that would be an introduction to these, where the texts are connected by a thread, so I
used the first phrase of the poem "Ondine." For the works in the exhibition room below, 《Banner(from Ondine) #1-5》, I used the fragments of the poem that continue from the work on themezzanine.
“Ondine” appears in “Ikuyo” as one of the pieces of music that the two characters werelistening to. It is based on a poem by Aloysius Bertrand, in which Ondine is depicted as a waternymph. The story is that one night, she goes to a man's house and proposes marriage throughhis window, but when he refuses, Ondine bursts into laughter, splashes water at his window,
and disappears. I really liked her formidability and the possibility that she might come back. Ialso liked it as nighttime music, so I used in my works this time.
All photos were taken with a pinhole camera. To make a pinhole camera, you make a hole inblack paper with a needle, and an image emerges. I realized that the world/landscape you see
through a pinhole is the same as when you put through a thread in a small hole of a needle andspin words when embroidering. This is my first time embroidering on photos.
Using the sea as a motif
The novel ends with a scene in which the separated characters go to the sea and imagine
someone on the other side, and I wanted to photograph that scene and make it into an artwork.
This time, I photographed the locations of the novel and the sea on the island where I’m from.
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I also photographed [mé]'s “Contact 2#2”, as I freely tried to look at even the imaginary sea.
About “leaving (as is)”The last line of the novel that I think is similar to the theme "leaving (as is)" is, "Reflecting themoonlight, the golden pen tip runs like the wave," and when I wrote it, I somehow imagined
the scenery. When I finished writing it and looked at it again, I found myself wondering, “Whatdoes this mean?”

I kept thinking of that phrase every time I come to "Tsubaki-kai." This time,

when I was taking photos and videos of the sea with a pinhole camera, I noticed the waves
catching the light in the rough landscape, I felt that there was a connection between that phrase
and the image in front of me, and I wanted to create a piece of art based on that scene.

《 Reflecting the moonlight,
the golden pen tip runs likethe wave》 2023

《Banner (from Ondine)＃１》
2023
私は波のように走らせる》 2023

《Banner (from Ondine)＃2》
2023
私は波のように走らせる》 2023

《Banner (from Ondine)＃3》
2023
私は波のように走らせる》 2023

《Banner (from Ondine)＃4》
2023
私は波のように走らせる》 2023

《Banner (from Ondine)＃5》2023
私は波のように走らせる》 2023

Aiko Miyanaga《message（2019/2021/2022/2023)》
I have exhibited this work in the Tsubaki-kai exhibition three times since 2021. However, thevery first time was in 2019, when it was displayed in a Shiseido’s store window. The form of
this work has been changed and recorded only within the time with Shiseido. I believe this work
plays a role as time.
《 Peak of the sea 》 、 《 Wrapping a verse － White Rose － 》 、 《 Deep sleep ／ Shallow
3awakening》
Last year, when Hanatsubaki Street near the Shiseido Gallery happened to be under construction,
we were able to obtain old soil and bricks from this area. I used the soil to make glass. I
discovered a time axis that was different from the current Ginza, so I wanted to do somethingthat would come into contact with the old time. So this year, I made a perfume bottle using theglass I made last year. I wanted to show how it came about, so I install the work directly on thefloor.
About a year ago, as I was exploring the beginnings of various existence, I started thinking that
although it is not possible to preserve perfume forever, it might be possible to store it in stones,for example. “Wrapping a Verse -White Rose-” is a piece of work in which a stone impregnatedwith perfume was placed in molten glass and fired. While firing, the water contained in theperfume turns into vapor and makes a hollow state encased in glass. Perfume has no color, butwhen it dissolves in fire, its ingredients leave a color. I wanted to show this as my work because
I thought I was able to preserve the air of the perfume with such traces.
“Leaving (as is)” and “indifference”
This year's theme is "leaving (as is)" and "indifference," and when we finished installing for theexhibition, I realized that even though we were supposed to be "indifferent" and "leaving (asis)," they were all responding to each other so much. I knew it, and it just made sense to me.
I tried to keep my interest as low as possible along with the theme, but as we worked together
for some times, I started to understand what other artists were thinking and what they seemed
to like. Even if we didn't exchange a lot of words, I think the other artists also naturally felt thatwhen they were setting up their work, if someone put the work here, the next one may place
like this or something like that.

《Wrapping a Verse-White Rose-》
2023《Peak of the sea》
2023
《message (2021/2022/2023)》
2023

4《Deep sleep／Shallow awakening》
2023

Nerhol《Aloe arborescens》、 《Oxalis triangularis》、《Lycoris radiata》、《Amaranthus retroflexus》
This time, we did not want to just express the theme of “leave (as is)” and “indifference” butwanted to explore it, so we decided to interview each artist. Over the past three years, we've
come across many questions, such as what other artist are thinking and etc. When we went tothe studio visits, we had completely different conversations with the artists than the meetings
we had for the exhibition, and we learned a lot from the conversations.
At first, we were planning to create works based on the videos of the artists’ interviews, but wehappened to see various plants and exposed to different scenery and environments at artists’studios. So, we decided to create works using the video of the plants we had taken.
All the plants we videotaped are naturalized plants. Throughout the first and second years, wehave been creating works based on the theme of naturalized plants. Naturalized plants were thefirst thing we discovered when we casually looked around an unimagined place of indifference.
Without our intention, we could always find them at each artist's studio.

Unfortunately, we

could not interview Sugito-san, but he was making his works using potatoes and sweet potatoes,
and since they are also naturalized plants, we thought it was unnecessary for us to make them.
Studio visits of the artists.
In the first and second years, because of the corona, it was difficult for us to have close
relationships with other artists, so in a sense we had to imagine each other and read theatmosphere, but in the end, although it wasn't what we were aiming for, we were able to createa space with a sense of atmosphere in the exhibitions.
This is our third and final Tsubaki-kai, and we were able to meet in person, so we decided tophysically meet, talk, and communicate as the start. When we actually met, we were able tohear all kinds of interesting stories beyond our exhibition, and as our interests grew, we realizedthat there was something precious behind the theme "indifference" so we tried to express it inour own way.
Places to install the works.
This time, we placed our own works near each artist's work (whom we went the studio). We
set it up so as people could see the artist’s work first and then our work along the way. The
reason why we made the works small was because we were thinking about this way of installingthem. This is the first time we made the works this small.
This is the third time, and it has the most sense of distance. Maybe it's because of the theme.
5We think this exhibition is the one that makes the most use of space.

《Lycoris radiata》 2023

《Oxalis triangularis》
2023《Aloe arborescens》
2023《Amaranthus retroflexus》
2023

Hiroshi Sugito《inner disco 2》 - 《potatoes and the sea》 《sweet potato lantern》
I've worked with these members for three years, and each time it's been difficult to propose
what to exhibit at the beginning of the discussion. So, we decided to create one rule. Since
Nakamura-san is an architect, in the first year, he decided to build the wall. In the second year,
he proposed to put up a rope in the space, and in the third year, he built these pillars. In addition
to that, during our discussion, the word “indifference” came up. I was wondering how I can
express it, but the words "pillars" and "indifference" were in my mind, so I started from there.
In a subsequent meeting, [mé] proposed to exhibit a monolith-like wavy triangle. Then, I
proposed the words “mirror ball,” thinking it would be a trigger to develop the meaning of"indifference." By the third year, we were already tired of online meetings, and since we had
been together for three years, I felt that it would be the best to exhibit works based on eachartist’s intuition, so the exhibition turned out like this.
《potatoes and the sea》 and 《sweet potato lantern》
At first, I was thinking of exhibiting only 《potatoes and the sea》. In last year’s exhibition, I used
this corner to tension the rope, so I somehow wanted to use this corner again. In my mind, I
had an intuitive image of driving a stake and seeing sweet potatoes floating in the sea, andwhen I was thinking about this work, I was also imagining what everyone would bring for theexhibition.
When I saw the pillars built, I thought they were a bit big, but I thought it would be mitigatedif I had something to hang against the pillars, so I hung the 《sweet potato lantern》.
Using potatoes as the motif.
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I started to get an idea from various things that [mé] was talking about. However, it all started
when I was thinking about the ocean, wondering if the mirror ball could become the moon, andthinking about the ebb and flow of the tides. It reminded me of digging potatoes during the fullmoon. I felt that the easiest way to do this time was to take the words that came out intuitivelyand give them a form. Until the day of the exhibition, we didn't know what everyone was goingto bring, so it was like exchanging gifts, not knowing who the presents would go to, so there
was a sense of excitement. The members of the 8th Tsubaki-kai are rather modest, and they
have become more and more subdued. This third exhibition has become the most simple andreserved one, but if you look closely, you'll find that it's an interesting exhibition filled with ideas
from each artist.
About “inner disco”
This title is also intuitive. This is a phrase that caught my attention the last time I had an
exhibition at another museum. It was also during the coronavirus pandemic, so I guess I meantthat even if we cannot go out, we had to keep ourselves motivated. It is like your inner disco inyour home.

《inner disco 2 - potatoes and the sea》
2023

《inner disco 2 – sweet potato lantern》
2023

［mé］
《Contact 2#2》、《A Small Window》《Contact 2#2》 was inspired by the desire to "get close to a landscape itself,” and attempts tocapture the existence between scenery and objects. The works have aspects that somehow
reflect the consciousness of the viewer, such as being arousing at times and intoxicating at othertimes. 《A Small Window》 is a work in which a person looking absentmindedly out of a window
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appears to be left alone in the exhibition space. We hope it will be something like a person
staring blankly at the scenery from the window, and we are looking back at her from this sideof the world.
The reason to include these works in the final exhibition.
We considered the development of these works based on the themes of“leave (as is)” and“indifference.” When you are looking at the scenery in a daze, you feel alone there in front of
the overwhelming world, and you and this vast world are somehow left unattended, but only arelationship exists. That's the situation. Because of the long-term communication with theparticipating artists, even if we exhibit in the way we would not normally do (sometimes ruiningthe work), we think we have created this exhibition where only the “relationship” emerges inthe space.

《Contact 2#2》 2023

《A Small Window》 2023

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