profile :
AKI SEKI (関 陽)
Born in 1971, Japanese.
The grandfather is a Taiwanese birth. The grandmother succeeds Samurai’s genealogy.
March, 1995 ・・・ Graduated from Hosei University, Department of Sociology
Activity history:
May, 2008 ・・・ In GEISAI MUSEUM#2, I was introduced by special guests ”AKB48” who are the most famous idol group in japan. (LINK)
November, 2008 ・・・ The 34th Japan Modern Naive art Exhibition.
Autumn of 2008 ～ ・・・ I was introduced in “ARTNAVI” (portable site shared with BIJUTSUTECHO）.
March, 2009 ・・・ Solo Exhibition, “see-through garden”, Kinosho Kikaku.
August, 2009 ・・・ The Gallery156 collection exhibition, Kinosho Kikaku – Gallery156.
November, 2010 ・・・ The prize of TAKASHI MURAKAMI, GEISAI TAIWAN#2
May, 2011 ・・・ GEISAI TAIWAN #2 prizewinner exhibition, Kaikai Kiki Gallery Taipei
October, 2011 ・・・ Illustration, of The 1st time essay competition of journal “Ushio“
July, 2012 ・・・ The 2nd time lot exhibition, GEISAI#17
June, 2013 ・・・ GEISAI prizewinner’s art talk event “ARTALK” Ustream broadcasting, HidariZingaro
October, 2013 ・・・ TRANS ARTS TOKYO 2013 / (LINK1, 2, 3)
May, 2014 ～ ・・・ Art Event “Dosupe” / (LINK1)
October, 2014 ・・・ The 1st time “SHIBUYA AWARD“
August, 2015 ・・・ ASIA HOTEL ART FAIR SEOUL 2015 (KINOSHO KIKAKU)
October, 2015 ・・・ The 2nd time “SHIBUYA AWARD” Invited artist
June, 2017 ・・・ Independent TAIPEI
November, 2019 ・・・ Solo Exhibition, (滿足藝術中心, CHRISTY ART GALLERY, Tamsui District, New Taipei City, Taiwan)
December,2022 ・・・ SOBUN ART AUCTION 2022 (Aoyama Gakuin University)
Award:
November, 2010 ・・・ The prize of TAKASHI MURAKAMI, GEISAI TAIWAN#2
What is GEISAI ?
“When creating art, I cherish the sensations of various memories, the atmosphere, and the transparency that reside in the space.
Before the diversity in the world eventually disappears, and everything becomes homogeneous,
at the fleeting moment when different domains mutually erode the boundaries between them,
I want to capture and depict the light that penetrates everything.”
・・・
I feel that the act of traveling is like spending time in another life that is different from everyday life. When I start a new journey, I feel like another life that was suspended at the end of my last journey is being restarted.
I have traveled many times, and traveling has had quite an impact on me. At the end of my student days, I traveled to South America on my first trip abroad. During that trip, What I thought was common sense didn’t apply in many areas. In order to continue my journey, I needed to re-perceive and recognize reality from the beginning. The sights I saw there were vivid and mysterious, and deeply captivated my heart. From these experiences, I developed an attitude that, especially when drawing, I try to eliminate science and other common sense and try to reinterpret things and the world in my own way, using all my senses.
Then, when I returned to Japan after that trip, the Japanese things that I had previously taken for granted began to seem even more exaggerated. Things that had previously seemed normal began to seem a little strange, yet even more appealing. And I realized that I really liked it. I have become more aware of myself as a Japanese person. Such a “Japanese spirit” can be seen not only in the scenery around us, but also in various cultures, such as current subcultures, manga, anime, light novels, movies, music, etc.
Being strongly aware of this kind of cultural influence seems to contradict the aforementioned attitude of “eliminating science and other common sense”. I love the “Japanese spirit,” but I believe that we must have the heart to question its foundations, otherwise nothing new will be born. In my case, when I felt that it was commonplace around me, the “Japanese spirit” was not so interesting to me. There is a process where I realize for the first time how good it is once I go outside. After looking at the scenery outside, I had an experience that blew away my common sense, and for the first time I could see it objectively, and I fell in love with the “Japanese spirit.” However, even when I tried to look at it objectively, it was overwhelmingly fascinating. This can’t be helped because I’m Japanese.
Since the 2010s, most of my travel destinations have been Taiwan. Since then, I have visited there many times. Many of my trips were related to art, but my trip to Taiwan also had a big impact on me. Part of my ancestral roots are in Taiwan, and I think it was an experience that evoked memories in my DNA. The nature of tropical country and the culture rooted there had a strong impact on me. For some reason, I felt a sense of nostalgia and an intense attachment to it that I couldn’t resist. My experience in Taiwan took me to new heights. Now that I have seen the culture of admiring goldfish among Taiwanese people, which is shared with Japanese people, I now feel more strongly that I am not only Japanese, but also Asian.
I try to draw works that are conscious of the good points of Japanese and Taiwanese culture, but in my case, I was able to find the good points in Japanese and Taiwanese culture by looking at the subject objectively. This result was possible only because I had the opportunity to have to look at it objectively. Therefore, at the same time, the attitude of eliminating all common sense and reinterpreting things from scratch remains important to me.
