Winter 2010. It was the first time I had visited Hayama city in Kanagawa Prefecture for a meeting for an exhibition.
I left the Hayama museum and I went to the coastline right outside. As I approached the ocean unfurled before my eyes as the sun set against the waves.
Recently I have been producing artwork with the theme of Deep Rhyme – the unknowable shadow and depth that reveals existence. The source of everything, life and emptiness, creation and destruction; the ocean precisely matched this theme.
I can’t capture it. I thought that this helpless feeling would torment me. As I was working on this motif through trial and error, the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck.
My heart aches for the victims of this unprecedented disaster. I thought that paintings of the ocean might revive their trauma. In light of this absurdity of existence, we must overcome it now with a sense of awe. I believe perhaps a fundamental change in this “perception” is needed.
All form and all colors are contained in the ocean and it is impossible to depict its entirety. But if there is some artistic essence that can be captured out of the conflict for control of consciousness and the phenomenon (nature) it transcends the mere oil paints on the canvas. As I paint these works, I hope they will be an opportunity for the viewer to go deep in the consciousness of existence.
From the bottom of my heart, I pray for those lost in the disaster and I hope that the victims can find peace as soon as time will allow.

Yasue Kodama