The first correspondence
I had from Mr. Seino Shoichi was postmarked Nov. 13, 1978. It
was an invitation for a group exhibition being held at the Muramatsu
Gallery (Ginza, Tokyo) from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2. This exhibition
was the third meeting of Hanshakei (Engl. - Reflectance). I had
the opportunity to go to Tokyo while this exhibition was being
held and remember climbing the steps to the Muramatsu Gallery,
relying on the instructions printed on the invitation. I had
absolutely no knowledge of the makeup of this group nor the four
artists who comprised it. However, judging from Seino's home
address in Nagakute-cho,a suburb of Nagoya (he had sent the invitation),
I assumed he had heard somewhere that I was interested in contemporary
art, and that was why I had received the invitation.
At the time, the work he had done was an "objet" made of black pottery. It was oblong
in shape and entitled "Pool".
Was it that the planes which protruded symmetrically like wings
appeared to be on the surface of water? Also, in the center were
two forms which looked like a pair of feet. The two forms were
touching each other and arranged in the opposite direction so
that they looked just like the feet of a swimmer making a turn.
Leaving aside the works of the other three members, as I left
the gallery I remember wondering to myself how Seino's work meshed
with this group called Hanshakei. I didn't understand their work
enough, but could this be a group which hoped to express in artistic
form a quick and alert response to the physical world without
preconceptions? I don't remember meeting Seino at the time, so
perhaps we passed each other without knowing it.
Later in 1982, I attended an exhibition of his new work at Gallery
Westbeth in Nagoya. It was his first solo exhibition and it was
then that I first met him. The work was fired and made of dolomite.
It was white and rectangular in shape. The work was an installation
which stood completely against the walls to the left and right.
It stood about chest level in height and there were two added
legs in the direction of the major axis.
Walking through the gap which maintained the symmetry, and then
stopping right in the middle of it, it resembled banks of snow
left behind on the sides of a road that had been cleared of snow.
It seemed as if one had been caught in the hallucination that
one's body was placed in the clarity which echoed the spaces
of the Snow Country. At this time, Seino exhibited an installation
work of fired rectangular shapes that were piled up in a fixed,
regular manner like stairs.It
gave one the impression of part of the clean and pure space within
an old Grecian structure.
It was at that time that I first met Seino and directly spoke
with him. Some people might feel that he is taciturn because
of the manner in which he speaks -in a somewhat low voice, weighing
his words. However, this is how he has become accustomed to speaking,
cutting off any unnecessary explanation and embellishment and
only speaking clearly about the central point. It is for that
reason that the primary impression one receives is that of a
person who is sincere and with an open heart and mind, just like
the surfaces of the white, rectangular forms he was exhibiting.
Looking back know, it is already 20 years since I first saw his
exhibition at the Muramatsu Gallery and 17 years since I first
spoke intimately with Seino. In that time, one can see changes
in the forms of the many experiments he has made, but flowing
through the heart of Seino's flourishing creative desire and
fresh personality is something that has remained completely unchanged
till the present day.
At that time, I heard something surprising. It had to do with
a time five or six years before I first came into contact with
his work at the Muramatsu Gallery. From 1965 to 1976, I had intermittently
published a small magazine called Ten(Engl. - Point). He had
subscribed at a book store in Shimokitazawa in Tokyo. This was
probably in the early 1970's. In the 1960's and 1970's, various
spheres of different art forms became interlocked like a jigsaw
puzzle. It was a time when there was a balance maintained between
the complicated points of contact of these various groups. From
the inception of this small magazine, I had Mr. Kano Mitsuo take
care of the binding and cut illustrations. Each month, I had
articles submitted by people who were at the forefront of each
artistic sphere at that time - haiku, poetry, the fine arts,
music and so on -. It was my hope to then sell the magazines
at two or three bookstores in Tokyo that also sold books on poetry.
Consequently, even nowadays, I sometimes hear that some unexpected
person had also subscribed to Ten. Seino was one of them. Possibly,
we had attended the same performance of Ankoku Butoh. While maintaining
an amazingly wide interest in all of the artistic spheres, how
was he able to cut away the things which surrounded that chaos
and then manifest his own concise and succinct creative world?
Once again, a new interest in Seino rose up in me.
From the end of the 1980's and into the 1990's, this artist began
to use graphite in many ways as his basic material. Varying the
thicknesses slightly, he fired various square board-like shapes.
He used heat to make traces on the surfaces. Then he covered
the surface of the ground with them. These external forms also
remind one of very blackened, ancient tombs or coffins, yet within
it is possible to see substantive ceramic objects which have
been neatly arranged at regular, fixed distances. One after the
other he has presented such installations. The way in which the
individual pieces that comprise these exhibitions have been fired
and received the shapes they've been given- the feeling of surfaces,
the subtle differences in the color tones - have become clear
by means of a fixed arrangement of space for the first time.
Also, by means of changing those arrangements, the nature of
the space becomes kaleidoscopic, and each time he exhibits it
again forces us to change our perception.
Recently, he has been adding plant-like motifs to the surfaces
of square planks, and experimenting with transferring reflections
of the area around the mouth of a river onto curtains which cover
walls. Gradually, the concern of the artist is the natural environment
itself, but how will he incorporate this into his work? It makes
one feel that his work is changing because of a search in this
direction. Tracing the stream of Seino's work which I have encountered,
it is due to his work process in which the basic material of
earth has been shaped by applying heat that he has even changed
his residence. By following the way of life of potters and sculptors
in former times, Seino has continued to investigate a way for
ceramicists that is at the extreme border of those arts. It is
because of this attitude I embrace him once again with great
respect.
In Seino's recent work, he has temporarily planed away the attribute
of "pottery". What will he substitute
in its place? This would seem to be a very interesting question
and because of it I am filled with great expectation.
Shunkichi Baba ,haiku poet ,Art Critic
Translated by Rumme,Ltd.