Works @worksgoro - Tumblr Blog

Works, Goro Shimano

For the individual work/project, find the links in Category.

Works home ⎮ CV ⎮ Goro Shimano home

Artist Statement

'The Portrait and The Third Person'

My main art form is portrait which I describe as painted 'integrations' or 'aggregates', of the various impressions, memories and information which we unconsciously develop and use in order to form opinions, communicate and forge relationships with other people. I want to establish a way of painting and presenting portraits in which all segments of a face relate to issues of identity and question ideas of what is 'real'. By distilling each individual impression of the model's features into marks made with instinctive actions/effects and reconstructing them into a singular/series of portrait(s) with vivid colour combinations and blended gray tones, my aim is to question the gaps between the ways in which we perceive the face of another and the image we create in our minds of who the other is.

The reality that we sense is neither a realistic depiction nor a narrative of fantasy, but something between the two, something which I consider to be a third option. I have thought about the possibilities of painting different versions of still life portraits; that is, limited movement, in contrast to the moving images that dominate visual art culture today.

As Deleuze has argued, the opposite of The Virtual is not The Real, but is The Actual, and they are companions.(*) Everything moves from The Virtual to The Actual when we identify potential in possibilities, this fluid thinking reminds me as a Japanese person about the thinking required for practicing/looking at calligraphy. The pictogram of a Chinese character and the meaning of each individual character creates a new representation, combining the writer's creative perception and understanding with the visual form. The created figures are never the same as the earlier historical examples changed by the materials is used, subjective interpretation and taught style of the artist, and observers are able to find out new 'characteristics' of the letter through the differences between the works. Again, we have a third appearance, a middle ground that is otherwise obscure.

As an example, by repeatedly painting the portrait of 'Rob' which eventually came to a series, I aimed to represent my changing understanding of the subject, painting by painting, as painting and by painting, and to open the possibility for the viewer to discover their own unique amalgamated conceptualisation of Rob. Despite the familiarity of the simple stencil marks made through the series, the differences between the figures represents, for me, a sense of reality which is neither static nor passive, but depends on the potentiality of the appearance/character of the person itself.

*in the essay ”The Virtual and The Actual”, referred by Prof. S. Ueno from Iwaki Meisei Uni., June 2008 “Reconsideration of Virtual Reality” presentation at Association of Pop Culture Studies

Works home ⎮ CV ⎮ Goro Shimano home

Skype Drawing Project

＊日本語の説明は後半にあります。

Skype Drawing is a on-going portrait project of Goro since 2014, making portraits through Skype conversations with people from all around the world.

Goro has tried to use more randomness for his portrait making, that spontaneously occurs by conversations with others. Works in the project look more vividly remaining the primitive characteristics of the model that the artist possibly can create in his mind before forming a well-proportioned, self-consistent image of the person.

His original motivation to start this practice was only to find someone to have a chat with as he always has felt a part of his identity lost.

The information technologies realised more flexile lifestyles that can let you maintain your familiar job and relationships with old friends wherever you moved to in the world. But on the other hand, the difficulties tend to remain to get used to the life in the new community that could have helped to renew your identity. The case of himself who moved in the UK five years before the project seemed pretty similar to this.

When he realised he might be in a depression, after being stuck on bed for a day, he started from a little step to get out, saying 'Hello' to his neighbours again and decided to think what makes him happier – conversation. That eventually led him to re-evaluate the benefit of the internet as a conversation tool.

Skype Drawing was created in this process.

This also has reminded him what causes his primitive desire for drawing and what he need for it – an atmosphere of intimacy. Dialogues usually can not be easy to be a frank one when you have a stranger, but the new tools such as Skype make it more possible. He has drawing sessions with people on Skype which enable both the artist and the model to be relaxed in their own private spaces, making neither of them self-conscious.

After the first sessions for several months, Skype Drawing turned out a very contemporary approach for the modern portraiture that could brings the artist more variety of models from all around the world.

Goro still have been looking for his models as partners of the conversation on Skype, Hangout, FaceTime, etc. So please feel contact him via Facebook message or info (at) goro.cc if you got interested in the images in the online portfolio of Skype Drawing.

For all portraits in the project, please see his Skype Drawing page, goroshimano on instagram or Works of Goro Shimno on Facebook.

Artist statement ⎮ Category

----------------------------------------------------

【スカイプ・ドローイング 2014~】

この「スカイプ・ドローイング」は元々、人との関わりや会話に対するシンプルな渇望から始まっています。

住み慣れた土地を離れ、新しい環境に溶け込むのに時間がかかることは、五年前にイギリスにやってきた僕に限らず、誰が経験することです。特に今日では、親しんだ仕事や居心地の良い人間関係など、世界中どこにいてもインターネットを介して維持できるようになりました。その反面、実際の環境や地域社会と新しく関わりを持つことは、以前よりも少し面倒な仕事になってしまったのではないかと感じます。

ともあれ、自己を維持すること（アイデンティティ）は、ネット上であれ現実であれ、無意識にであれ意識的にであれ、周囲の人との関係によって更新され精神の安定にとって大きな影響を持つ、ということに違いはないと思います。

事実、僕の渡英が実現できたのは、紛れもなくそれらのテクノロジーのお陰なのですが、一方で、この国の社会にとけ込めない自分に失望し、孤独感や無力感、自己喪失感に長く捕われてきました。それは、僕の生きている実感が、自分が考えるよりも、多分に身の周りの人との関係に依存していることに気付かなかったためでしょう。

もしかしたら、日本の仕事や友人の好意に依存しすぎているのではと、一時は日本語を話すことを禁止したり、古くからの人間関係を遮断したこともありましたが、急にイギリスでの仕事が増えるわけでもなく、自分が社会から浮いた存在になってしまったような、抜け出し難い負の感情の連鎖にはまり、ある日とうとうベッドから一歩も出られなくなってしまいました。それは、自分の存在意義を失いかけた恐ろしい経験でした。

自分は幸いにも、周りの人の助言から自分の心の異常をすぐに自覚することができました。そしてしばらくして、単純に挨拶や会話を交わすことができる相手を周りに探し始めました。一日一人、家族以外に「こんにちは」と声をかけられたら、その日の自分に満足することから始めたのです。

この、シンプルな会話の積み重ねから自己を再発見しようとするこの試みは、間もなく、スカイプなどを通じた遠距離の会話へと対象を拡張し、ネットを通じた人間関係の恩恵の部分に、再び焦点をあてるきっかけにもなりました。「スカイプ・ドローイング」は、そういった過程のなかで生まれたものです。

実際にスタジオにモデルを招いて描くポートレイトとは違い、何とも例え様のない楽しさ、居心地の良さを感じながら、しばらくこの活動を続けてみて気付いたことがあります。それは、僕がポートレイトを作る上でいつも必要としていた、モデルと自分との間の精神的な「親密さ」や「近さ」です。

気兼ねのない一対一の対話は、ごく親しい友人同士で行われるものでした、しかしスカイプをはじめとするネットを介した対話方法では、例え見知らぬ者同士でも、人目を気にしたり、居心地の悪い空間を共有することなしに、互いにとって非常にプライベートな場所にいながら相手に対面することができます。僕にとってはそれが、他のやり方では味わえない、リラックスした雰囲気の中での絵作りを可能にし、より多くのモデルを、さらに世界中から獲得する可能性をもたらしてくれました。そして——ある友人の言葉を借りれば——「これは、アートとして非常に現代的なアプローチの一つとなり得る」と思ったのです。

上にも書いたように、僕は今、この活動を通して感じてきた手応えを、ごく近い友人の輪を越えてもう少し広い範囲の人達を対象にしようと考えています。この話を知って、僕の活動にさらに興味を持っていただいた方がいたら、是非気軽に、モデルとして参加していただけたら大変嬉しいです。その際は、Facebookのダイレクトメッセージか、メール info（アットマーク）goro.cc まで、直接お知らせください。

皆さんとお話できる機会を楽しみにしています。

＊その他の過去作品は以下の場所でまとめてご覧いただけます。新しい作品もこちらで随時更新されます。

Skype Drawing page

goroshimano on instagram

Works of Goro Shimno on Facebook.

Artist statement ⎮ Category

#2014 #skype #skypedrawing #goroshimano #london #drawing

Skype Drawing (Paul, London, UK)

2014, Marker and Dermatograph on paper

*About the project　このプロジェクトについて

*For all portraits in the project, please see his Skype Drawing page, goroshimano on instagram or Works of Goro Shimno on Facebook.

Artist statement ⎮ Category

#2014 #skypedrawing #drawing #goroshimano #skype

Rob(s)

'Rob(s)' is a new portrait project based on 'Rob' (2011) which consists of about 30 pieces of one person's portrait made by different treatments in random colour palette. The new series encourages the broadening and deepening of the initial concept of 'Rob' that is to represent the ways in which we identify and remember the face. 'Rob(s)' is composed of two pieces alongside each other. Those are chosen from the first series and divided into strips to replace one with the counterpart of the companion. Although the original pieces certainly remain the model's characteristics as a portrait by the similarity with the stencil marks of the major facial features, each pair of 'Rob(s)', for the new execution, makes more variable visual effect to marge and fuse those different impressions but also to keep an uncertainty of our perceptions of the face.

It was introduced in The Other Art Fair May 2013.

Artist statement ⎮ show ‘Rob(s)’ photos ⎮ Category

#TOAF #Rob(s)#2013

‘Rob(s) No. 1’ 2013, Acrylic on canvas by hand painting, 58.5 x 80.3 cm (framed)

next ’Rob(s)’ photo ⎮ Category

#Rob(s)#TOAF #2013