Text by Konno Yuki for the solo show “Two Values”

2024. 06

Stuck Gazes, Stuck Images

When reading Hidetaka Suzuki’s artist’s statement, it begins with two reflections on money. One is about a piggy bank, and the other is about congratulatory money. The piggy bank is filled with material value, while large sums and people’s sentiments are symbolically contained in banknotes. For Suzuki, painting is about “connecting the extremes of what is and what is not an object.” His work can hold personal memories and emotions, much like how the contents of a piggy bank are hidden from view, and it possesses the material limits of being ephemeral or easily lost. Still life in his art serves as a vessel for richer, more vibrant memories but also exists as a single image that might quickly fade. Achieving a perfect balance between these aspects is no easy task. In Suzuki’s paintings, the images are in a state of delicate balance, barely holding together. Within this network of relationships, objects oscillate between being and not being objects.

In this exhibition 《Two Values》, Suzuki primarily showcases still life paintings. The artist presents everyday objects in a quiet yet unfamiliar manner. In <Oblivion> (2022), ice appears like boiling water. In <Error> (2023), a vegetable is depicted twice, once as part of the painting and another as if it has fallen off the painting. In <ON / OFF>(2024), the heat of an ON bulb is painted in an OFF state of paint. The title of this exhibition, 《Two Values》, can be understood as an exploration between objects and their visual representation. Suzuki’s paintings create images through the material properties and the distortions of paint. Objects are captured on the canvas as images. However, when viewed in person, the brushstrokes create a sense of depth while simultaneously pulling back just before completing the image, maintaining its flatness. In <Stick> (2024), a star shape appears to be a cut-out hole but then looks like a star-shaped sticker. In <Narcissus> (2023), a turtle seems to be swimming underwater but also appears as a mural on a textured wall. In <Error>(2024) the vegetable (likely an okra common in Japan, or a similar vegetable mistaken for another) appears as if it has been cut in half or has generated a ghostly duplicate, emphasizing an ‘error’.

The exhibition title 《Two Values》, does not refer to separately listed explanations, but rather to the meeting and diverging forces within a single canvas. “I attempt to connect the extremes of what is and what is not an object through painting. I feel that painting lies somewhere in between these two extremes,” (Artist’s statement). On the canvas, his paintings float the question “What is an object?” through the interplay of paint and image. The images, floating in unfamiliarity, ultimately intersect the gaze that sees the object and the gaze that sees the painting—meeting at a point while diverging in direction. While viewing the painting, one feels the materiality; while looking at the object, a narrative emerges. This is why Suzuki traces the memory of objects in his artist’s statement. Memories are depicted by the people who were with the objects, along with the objects themselves. Objects detached from those memories remain objects, but they also serve as sources that can evoke different memories for other people. The images presented in the paintings form within a network of relationships where titles and perspectives meet and shift—literally shaping the form. Images are tenuously held together, or made to exist, through brushstrokes, narratives, and objects, sometimes converging and sometimes diverging.

Text by Konno Yuki

붙은 시선, 붙은 이미지

스즈키 히데타카(Hidetaka SUZUKI 鈴木秀尚)의 작가 노트를 읽어 보면, 화폐에 대한 두 단상에서 글은 시작한다. 하나는 화폐를 보관하는 저금통, 다른 하나는 축의금이다. 저금통에 가치가 물질적으로 채워지고, 큰 액수와 사람들의 마음이 지폐에 상징적으로 담긴다. 작가에게 회화란 바로 이런 의미에서 “사물인 것, 사물 아닌 것, 그 양극단을 연결하는 것”이다. 본인만의 기억과 마음이 담길 수 있지만 (저금통 안에 얼마나 담겼는지) 보이지 않고, 단숨에 날아가거나 사라질 수도 있는 물질적 한계를 보유하는 것이다. 초연함의 정물은 더 풍성하고 활기찬 기억을 받아주는 그릇 역할을 하기도 하지만, 금방 떨어질지도 모르는 낱장의 이미지이기도 하다. 이 사이에 완벽한 균형을 맞추기란 도통 쉬운 일이 아니다. 스즈키 히데타카의 회화에서 이미지는 간신히 붙어 있는 불균형의 상태, 이 관계망에서 사물이 되기도 사물이 되지 않기를 좋아한다.

이번 개인전 《Two Values》에서 스즈키 히데타카의 회화가 보여주는 것은 대체로 정물이다. 작가는 일상적인 사물을 조용한, 그러나 낯선 모습으로 등장시킨다. <Oblivion>(2022)에는 끓는 물과도 같은 얼음이 보이며, <Error>(2023)에서 채소는 그림에서 떨어져 나온 것처럼 밑에 하나 더 그려지고, <ON / OFF>에서 조명은 ON 상태의 열기를 물감의 OFF 상태로 그려진다. 이번 전시 제목인 《Two values》는 무엇보다 사물과 시각적 표현 사이에서 추구되었다고 이해할 수 있다. 회화는 물감의 물성과 표현의 변형이나 왜곡을 통해서 이미지를 만들며, 사물은 이미지라는 결과물로써 화면에 담긴다. 그런데 작품을 실제로 보다 보면 붓질이 깊이감을 만들어내면서도, 더 그려지기 일보 직전에 발을 빼기라도 하듯이 이미지를 평면(적)으로 유지한다. <Stick>(2024)은 별 모양이 구멍처럼 뚫려 있는 것처럼 보였다가도, 별 모양의 스티커가 붙어 있는 것처럼 보이고, <Narcissus>(2023)에서 거북이는 물속에서 헤엄치는 듯 보였다가 질감 있는 담벼락에 벽화로 그려진 것처럼 보이기도 한다. <Error>에서 채소(작가가 거주하는 일본에서 흔한 ‘오쿠라’일 것이다. 아니면 유사하나 다른 채소를 두고 어느 한쪽이 다른 한쪽과 동일한 것이 아닌 ‘오류’인, 또 다른 채소)는 반으로 자른 것처럼, 혹은 유체 이탈하듯 환영을 하나 더 생성한 것처럼 보인다.

전시 제목인 ‘두 가치’란, 열거하듯이 각각 설명되는 것이 아니라 한 화면 안에서 만나고 떨어져 나가는 힘들의 만남을 가리킨다. “사물인 것, 사물 아닌 것, 그 양 극단을 연결하는 것을 그림으로 시도한다. 그림이란 그 양 극단의 중간쯤에 위치하는 것이라고 나는 느낀다.”(작가 노트) 그의 회화는 물감과 이미지가 붙어 있는 캔버스 위에서 ‘무엇이 사물인가?’라는 질문을 그야말로 부유하게 한다. 낯섦으로 부유하는 이미지는 궁극적으로 ‘그 사물을’ 보는 시선과 ‘회화를’ 보는 시선을 교차시킨다—즉 한 지점에서 만나는 동시에 방향이 엇갈릴 수 있다. 회화로 보다가 물성을 느끼고, 사물을 보다가 서사가 떠오른다. 작가 노트에서 스즈키 히데타카가 사물의 기억을 더듬는 이유가 바로 여기에 있다. 기억은 사물과 함께 있던 사람에 의해, 그와 함께 그려지는 것이다. 그 기억에서 떨어져 나간 사물은 사물로 남지만, 동시에 어떤 사람에게 또 다른 기억을 소환할 근원지와도 같다. 회화가 보여주는 이미지는, 제목이나 시선이 하나로 만났다가도 다시 한쪽에 힘이 쏠리기도 하는 관계망 안에서 형성形成하는—말 그대로 형태를 이루는 것이다. 이미지는 붓질에 의해, 서사에 의해, 사물에 의해, 이것들을 아울러 또는 떨어져 나가면서(도) 간신히 붙어 있게=존재하게 된 것이다.

글 콘노 유키

For the solo show “Two Values

Solo Exhibition “Two values”

2024. 06

서울의 갤러리 @pokettales 에서 개인전을 개최하게 되었습니다.
전시 첫 날에는 저도 전시회에 참석할 예정이니, 근처에 계신 분들은 꼭 한번 들러주세요.

I am thrilled to announce a solo exhibition at gallery pokettales in Seoul.
I will be there on the first day of the exhibition, so if you are in the area, please come and visit.

ソウルのギャラリー pokettalesで個展を開催します。
初日に在廊するので、もしお近くにおられる方はぜひ遊びに来てください。

“Two values”
Hidetaka Suzuki Solo Exhibition
히데타카 스즈키 개인전
포켓테일즈 서울시 중구 을지로 157, 9F
9F, 157, Eulji-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul
June 25 – July 13
12:00 – 18:00 (tue-fri)
11:00 – 15:00 (sat)

https://pokettales.com/

For the group show “Ghost Letter“

2024. 06

Recently, I increasingly use AI to generate images in the process of production. This is because I usually create paintings based on images taken from the Internet, and it is easy to experiment when I want to make a slight change or see a pattern.
AI is already being used everywhere in the world, whether we are aware or not. I am sure it is in the content you see today. When I think about it, I feel that my own thoughts, choices, and even the subjectivity of my own practice beyond that are being deprived little by little.
So I wondered if I could somehow resist AI. I wanted to show them something incomprehensible that would make them hold their hands.
I have previously depicted a wearable stuffed animal under the theme of what can be seen by hiding things. The stuffed animal which is the origin of the wearable stuffed animal is a substitute for an animal or character. A human being wears a stuffed animal inside and poses as a character. There is a grotesque perversion in wearable stuffed animals that injects a sense of vividness into something fictional. Here I sense a certain kind of humanity.
I then drew out a picture of the AI-generated image of the wearable stuffed animal. Looking at the completed picture, I felt it was like a proof photograph. It seemed to me that the emptiness of forcibly capturing the surface and identifying the individual, and the hollow image created by the AI, were connected by being made into a painting.

最近制作の過程でAIでイメージを生成することが増えた。というのも普段から私はインターネットの画像を元に絵画を制作しているが、少し変化を加えたい、もしくはパターンを見てみたいという際に手軽に試すことができるからだ。
私達が意識している、していないに関わらず、すでに世の中の至る所でAIは使われている。きっと今日あなたが見たコンテンツの中にもあるはずだ。そう思うと、なんだか自分自身の思考や選択、その先にある実践の主体性までもが、少しづつ奪われているように感じる。
そこで私はどうにかAIに抵抗できないかと考えた。彼らが手を止めてしまうような、理解不能なものを見せたいと思った。
以前、隠すことで見えてくるものというテーマで着ぐるみを描いたことがある。着ぐるみの元となるぬいぐるみはそもそも動物やキャラクターの代替物だ。その中に人間が入り、キャラクターを装う。着ぐるみは架空のものに生々しさを注入するようなグロテスクな倒錯がある。ここにある種の人間らしさのようなものを私は感じる。
そうして私はAIが生成した着ぐるみの画像を絵に描き出した。完成した絵を見ていると、
証明写真のようだなと感じた。強制的に表面を写しとり個人を特定する空虚さと、AIの作り出した中身のないイメージが、絵になることで繋がったように思えた。

For the group show “Ghost Letter

Ghost Letter

2024. 05

🔻Japanese is below

We are pleased to announce a two-person exhibition with Kentaro Takahashi at HIRO OKAMOTO, a gallery in Jingumae, Tokyo.
Although photography and painting are two different media, we have always felt that our works have something in common.
We hope that many people will come and see our works.

“Ghost Letter”
Exhibition Duration: 2024.06.08 – 06.23
Opening Hours: 11:00 – 19:00
Access: HIRO OKAMOTO, K’s Apartment 103, 3-32-2, Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-0001, Japan
* Please call “103” on the main entrance intercom when you come in.

Introduction

Ghost Letter refers to phantom characters of unknown origin.

These characters are said to be the product of typographical errors and noise that got mixed up in the popular JIS Kanji code established in 1978, and 12 of them still exist like ghosts today.

No one knows how to read them or what they are used for, and no trace of their use has ever been found, making their existence doubtful.

Upon further investigation, it appears that the ghost characters were most likely the result of human error in the coding process, such as the accidental merging of different characters or the addition of extra lines.

The story seems to be that these errors were carved into the data and are still there to this day to avoid confusion.

Throughout history, letters have always changed and many words have disappeared. The existence of ghost letters seems to lie between the words that have already been lost and those that are used today.

The ghost letters, which have been mixed in by chance, are like shadows of letters that someone may have drawn in the past.

However, we have no way of confirming the truth. Even if the letters once had meaning, all we have left are their shapes.

This exhibition explores the ambiguity and certainty of memory, of things that do not exist but are familiar to us, through the mediums of painting and photography.

It is an attempt to quietly question how mysterious entities such as ghost characters affect our minds.

https://www.hirookamoto.jp/events/ghostletter

神宮前のギャラリー、HIRO OKAMOTO にて Kentaro Takahashi と二人展を開催します。
写真と絵画という違うメディアですが、以前から作品の共通点があると感じていました。
ぜひたくさんの人にみていただけたら幸いです。

“Ghost Letter”
Exhibition Duration: 2024.06.08 – 06.23
Opening Hours: 11:00 – 19:00
Access: HIRO OKAMOTO, 東京都渋谷区神宮前3丁目32-2 K’s Apartment 103
※御来廊いただく際は、正面玄関インターホンにて「103」をお呼び出しください。

Introduction

Ghost Letterとは幽霊文字と呼ばれる出所が不明な幻の文字を指す。

これらの文字は、1978年に制定された一般的に普及しているJIS漢字コードに紛れ込んだ誤字やノイズの産物とされ、現在もなお12文字が幽霊のように存在している。

その読み方も用途も誰にもわからず、使用の痕跡すら見つからない実在が疑われる文字である。

調べてみるとどうやら幽霊文字はコード化の過程でのヒューマンエラー、例えば異なる文字の偶然の結合や余分な線の追加などによって生まれた可能性が高い。

このようなエラーがデータに刻まれ、今もなお混乱を避けるためにそのまま残されている、というのが事の顛末のようである。

歴史を振り返ると、文字は常に変化し、多くの言葉が消えていった。幽霊文字の存在は、すでに失われた言葉と現在使われる言葉の狭間にあるように感じられる。

何かの偶然で紛れ込んでしまった幽霊文字は、かつて誰かが描いたであろう文字の影のような存在だ。

しかし、現代の私たちにはその真実を確かめる術はない。その文字がかつて意味を持っていたとしても、今私たちに残されているのはその形だけである。

この展覧会では、実在しないがどこかで見覚えのあるもの、記憶の曖昧さと確かさを、絵画と写真という二つのメディウムを通じて探求する。

幽霊文字のような謎めいた存在が、私たちの心にどのような影響を与えるのか、静かに問いかける試みである。

https://www.hirookamoto.jp/events/ghostletter

The program booklet for the opera, “THE TURN OF THE SCREW”

2024. 05

My work was cited in the program booklet for the opera, “THE TURN OF THE SCREW”, Benjamin Britten directed by Andrea Breth, at the Royal Opera House of la Monnaie in Belgium.
I’m very happy to be featured along with the wonderful artists.

ベルギーのモネ王立歌劇場で行われたオペラ、「ねじの回転」(Benjamin Britten、Andrea Breth演出)のプログラムブックレットで作品を引用していただきました。
バルテュスやモネ、ボレマンスなど、素晴らしいアーティストと並んで掲載していただきとても嬉しいです。

https://www.lamonnaiedemunt.be/en/program/2660-the-turn-of-the-screw

New Art Dealers Alliance New York 2024

2024. 04

I’m thrilled to be showing a solo presentation of new paintings with @ackerman.clarke  @newartdealers from May 2-5.

I will be in New York during the fair and look forward to seeing you all.
You can find us at Booth 3.09, 3rd floor of the 548 W. 22nd St. building.

https://www.newartdealers.org/programs/nada-new-york-2024/introduction

第10回目の NADA New York に Ackerman Clarke のブースから参加します。
個展形式のプレゼンテーションをする予定です。
フェアの会期中ニューヨークに行く予定なので皆様にお会いできることを楽しみにしています。
Booth 3.09, 3rd floor of the 548 W. 22nd St. building.
2024/5/2 – 5/5