I first visited the AMABIKI exhibition when I was a student. At that time, I never thought that someday I would take part in the event. I became a member when I was just starting out as an artist and am now participating in the exhibition for the fourth time.
When I first took part in this exhibition, one openly held by the artists themselves, the behind-the-scene aspects were something that I had never experienced before. There was a particularly strong tension during the serious but raucous discussions at the monthly meetings. We address all matters related to holding the exhibition, and deal with things that come up. There is no pre-established harmony regarding the path to solutions, and members all discuss issues from scratch with full knowledge of the troubles involved. In this way, the character of each artist becomes evident. This is a difficult time, when every comment made by people comes back just as it was given. From within this maelstrom, I felt I was looking at a microcosm of society.
That microcosm gradually changes in line with each artist’s path in life and relationship with society. The AMABIKI exhibition itself has also truly changed as the times have moved forward. However, it is not just about other people. When I take a look back at myself, I notice that within me, a part of that microcosm, there is yet another more compact microcosm. The various unique artists serve as mirrors, and various versions of myself are inevitably reflected.
Society is based on division of labor. People are only able to accomplish things in the limited time they have by taking on a specialization and delegating other work to people. This is true of exhibitions too. If the exhibition can be effectively put on by dividing up the roles of the artists and other professions engaged in expression, that is good enough.
However, the AMABIKI exhibition is not done that way. That is perhaps because, while only focus on creating your art and let the other struggles in your life fade into the background, you acutely perceive the possibility of losing something essential as a creator. What does it mean to make great efforts to always stay self-aware? It may be something like an effect that is difficult to seek within the framework of art that became self-evident once there was a division of labor – something that, although difficult to put into words, could be called “certainty”.
If one looks back at history, one can argue that each of the various expressions that have been developed were achieved together with a particular “certainty”. It must have also accompanied people when questioning obviousness or aiming for innovation at the frontier of frameworks. On the other hand, the focus of the AMABIKI exhibition is solely on the extremely simple act of showing people works placed within the scenery. However, one captures a “certainty” in expression by accepting both meaning and responsibility in the process, and by in the end tracing the process of the formation of the frameworks themselves.
Follow the route and view all of the works of art. The works of art illuminate the artists, visiters, region, and society, which in turn illuminate the works of art. This intricate reflection reflects the microcosm within me.
I stand as an ephemeral state of change between the inside and outside. On the other hand, the works of art exist naturally within the satoyama (border area between mountain foothills and arable flat land near villages) life, as if unrelated to the subtleties of those flesh-and-blood people. They will likely remain in the memories of visiters who viewed them accompanied by “certainty”. With the passage of time, one’s interpretation of them is sure to change with each recollection. The more that works of art are recalled in mind or updated, the more they provide artists and viewers with a new vision. They do so while urging one to take the next step.

Participating artist
SHIOYA Ryota