Artistically reflecting the meaning of symbols which have developed
and prevailed in Japan.
When I first learned the word “Design”, I thought it did not only mean Design which is generally functional and commercial, but could also include the concept of Art
which is adjacent in the field of modern visual expression. It was a shocking and unforgettable experience to me. The word “De-Sign” consists of two different words: de (meaning “out of”) and
sign. The word “Art” originally means to express based with the outstanding techniques, but it is far removed from today's major idea of art which emphasize more on the intellectual methodologies
and philosophical concepts behind the expression itself to be outputted than craftsman like techniques.
What is Artistic expression? I used to think that its significance is “to send signs to others without using a language”, and knowing the derivation of the word “Design”
was unforgettable.
Human beings in any era have always developed the society by placing importance on communication with others. Just speaking and writing are not enough mediums of
communication. That is why different ways of expression with different senses have been desired, and art and mass culture have developed in each era and society.
In Japan, we had imported and flexibly absorbed
foreign cultures and took long time to sublimate them to our own aesthetic cultures from different perspectives. And our own aesthetics had won the admiration once they were re-exported to
different countries in the history. As we look around the world, we see many cultural drifts, but many of aesthetics that we, the Japanese, have produced are highly accomplished over the ages,
and highly evaluated from over the world. I really think it is an interesting fact as I see it from the field of aesthetic world in Japan.
Katakana and Hiragana are kinds of characters that we once had imported from China, which originally was Kanji, and then modified into our own styles. In Japanese society today, we use these
two kinds of characters that are our own, Kanji in its original style, and also alphabets and numbers that are standard in the world; by complexly mixing them, we are now able to express more
sensitively in literature or advertising. And by choosing the right kind of characters and symbols, a sender's message gets clearer and more accurate, thus determinate the phrenic reaction of the
one who gets the message.
Now, what kind of expressions can be possible if we reflect those characteristics in aesthetic view?
This curiosity is based on the struggles in language communication with others, which I have been feeling since my childhood.
Aside from clear and rational words, Japanese language is very sophisticated in emotional expressions, and like I mentioned above, by using several types of characters
in appropriate purposes and reconstructing them, we have an infinite number of ways to share information with others. However, how can we share more complex and beautiful matters that cannot be
expressed in words? To me, the possible answer could be with visual expressions.
I first settled on the subject of the formative aesthetic in calligraphy. I artistically interpreted the shapes of characters, which construct words and then have
meanings, gave colors and depths clearly to them, and abstracted them into more erratic shapes; in such processes, I reflected possibilities of both positive and negative characteristics that
hand-written letters would have as symbols. I also worked mainly on Tableau with abstractions to truthfully visualize the sensitive feelings that cannot be outputted by words, which are, in broad
terms, coded.
In recent years, I combine Kana-moji in calligraphy and QR codes, a kind of two-dimensional codes that can be read digitally, which have similarities and differences in
their historical backgrounds and characteristics; both are symbols that were imported, developed to suite for the targeted usage in Japan, and then widely used. One is long-lasted analog culture,
and the other is fast-growing digital tool for industrial purpose. And one can be recognized at first site, and the other is unrecognizable.
Two-dimensional codes are originally invented in the United States, and a Japanese
company has enhanced its convenience and refined it into QR codes. It was originally used only in some industrial purposes, but because of its great advantages such as capacity of information it
can contain in such a small space, and readable with cell phone cameras and no needs of any special equipments, it was widely spread in Japan.
This is similar to the history of Hiragana, which its usage was originally limited privately among the aristocrats, and later enacted as the first characters for
children to learn in educational reform after the Meiji era, and then spreaded to people at any class in Japan.
By employing the aesthetics and capability of QR codes, it creates specific interaction between the work and the viewer, and leads to further aesthetic validations of
possibilities of information and communications with the symbols.