Everything remains different
Wunderkammer Exhibit #7
Over the past year and a half, Japanese artist Hiroyuki Masuyama has found ways in his imposed isolation to be close to the people who appreciate his art. He has motivated them to become creative themselves and involved them in his creative process. One of the things we can learn from him is to remain in a dialogue with our audiences.
In August 2020, I visited the Japanese artist Hiroyuki Masuyama in Düsseldorf for the first time. We were in the midst of the pandemic, and he had already developed his own techniques for dealing with the special living and working conditions corona had made necessary. Then came an unexpectedly long, gray and hard winter, which only seemed to end in early June 2021, at the cusp of summer. I felt this was a good moment to pay another visit to the artist, whose great theme is time. And, indeed, he has been working on exciting projects through the dark months of the past year — bringing a little glow to twelve lives.
But first things first. Last year, Masuyama began his shadow drawings. Travel restrictions prevented him from visiting new places, and his usual working materials were unavailable. Existential fears plagued him, so he reinvented himself, documenting the growth and decay of plants in pencil sketches and as silhouettes made from parchment paper.
In 2020, Masuyama was approached by Heribert Klein, a volunteer for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). UNICEF will be celebrating its 75th anniversary in December 2021, and Klein wanted to draw attention to children’s rights with a campaign titled “A Place for Every Child.” He was looking for international artists, each of whom was to design a chair turned from solid oak wood by master turner Heinrich Schlieper. Masuyama wanted to contribute something to this good cause, but it had to be something other than Klein’s original request: “I can’t paint stools. I don’t work that way.”
The Japanese artist had a different idea about how he could add to the object. He wanted to make a special shadow drawing and invited 100 people to visit him in his studio and sit on a stool in front of the canvas. I stopped by, too, in May. I was wearing a mask, of course, but facial expressions are completely irrelevant for shadow drawings. I was able to choose the crayon color for my outlines and sit as I liked, but I had to keep still for a few minutes while Hiroyuki Masuyama captured my contours once with the pencil, without setting it down. The order of his subjects was random. Shadow number 96 in red is me. I spread my arms, because the thing I’ve most wanted to do over the last 15 months is to fly, to visit people and places.
What has Masuyama learned about human beings in this project? “People are very different. During the pandemic, they went through a lot of things. Their differentness is even more apparent now. Some think long and hard about how to sit down. Others know right away. Some are very expressive. Many are a little uncomfortable at first. Some individuals can’t sit at all,” Masuyama says.
His approach is somewhat reminiscent of the work of street artists who quickly portray or make silhouettes of people in large public places. The difference is that Masuyama “morphs” various personalities into a total work of art. The individuals become members of a community on his canvas. The stool on which 100 people have sat is depicted in its contours and plays a role in the artwork. But it is a completely different role than envisioned by the initiator of the UNICEF art project. Hiroyuki Massuyama spoke at length with Heribert Klein. The shadow drawing format was not suitable for the planned UNICEF auction. Massuyama withdrew from the project in March 2021. Now he plans to sell his work, titled 100 People, Hiroyuki Masuyama Studio №01, and donate the proceeds to UNICEF. “This way I’m independent. That’s important for me and for UNICEF.”
A seat adds movement
The stool has stayed with Masuyama and become a kind of medium for him to explore new ideas. Now he plans to make his shadow drawings of people in public places: at the airport, in a mall, in a square. The Japanese artist wants to continue interacting with people. He believes he gets something from everyone he invites to take a seat. “Everyone had to decide for themselves and be creative themselves. Through their choice of colors and the pose they take, they influence the artwork. I want to help people rediscover their creativity.”
“There is so much beauty in everyone of us. I want to help people rediscover their creativity.” — Hiroyuki Masuyama
The great thing about visiting Hiroyuki Masuyama is that you can discuss important questions of existence with him. “Most people are always waiting to be given a new task. We learn that in childhood when we go to school. And as adults we perform tasks to earn money. It would be better for us to look for our tasks ourselves. And just perform them. That’s true for me, too.” Thus, after the first panic attack in April 2020, after questioning what gallery he would be able to exhibit his work in again, when that would happen, and what themes he would choose, he has found new approaches. “I’ve been trying out a lot of things. Of course, I still work with galleries and museums, but collectors can also come to my studio. Many find me through the internet and social media. Others get to know me through their friends. It’s a human chain, and I’m much more in touch with the individual.”
Art becomes a window into a better time
As part of the MINIMA X MAXIMA exhibition, which was on display at the Offenburg Municipal Gallery until September 2020, Masuyama offered visitors the chance to choose some of his artworks for their homes on loan. They could not live further than 30 km from the gallery, and interested parties had to write a short application at the exhibition. The artist chose the twelve lucky people himself according to diverse criteria. The “winners” included a family with small children, a single elderly lady, a student in a shared apartment, a middle-aged couple and a teenager still living with his parents. Masuyama visited them with a team to hang the desired pictures in the apartments. “I had very nice encounters.” Getting close and personal with the target group, I call it. The planned loan period of one month turned into five — thanks to corona. The pandemic also had its good side.
Masuyama recorded the thoughts and feelings of the borrowers in his catalog Home Project. In the dark winter with all its restrictions, many were reminded of past journeys and beautiful experiences by the light boxes, which were modeled on works by Caspar David Friedrich and William Turner. They also saw them as windows into a future in which they would be able to travel to foreign places once again. “Seeing art in a museum differs from having it hanging on your own wall. A work looks very different in the morning with a cup of coffee in your hand than it does in the evening with a glass of wine, for example.” One woman didn’t want to give up the two light boxes on display in her home and bought them.
In early 2022, Hiroyuki Masuyama will present an exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Solingen. In addition to his own works, paintings by Friedrich August de Leuw (1817–1888) will be on display. For the show, he has developed a new interactive concept together with Dirk Balke. It consists of a number of elements that he and his visitors have enjoyed in recent months. Interested parties are invited to contribute in different ways:
- Masuyama is looking for five couples as photo models who would like to go on a hike with him in a landscape drawn by Friedrich August de Leuw and be photographed there.
- Visitors to the exhibition will be asked to take photographs in the rooms and enter their images in a competition. The winning motifs will be exhibited.
- Masuyama will once again invite 100 people to sit for him. The result will be another shadow drawing that will be displayed and made available for purchase at the exhibition.
- And there is also a new Home Project. The Japanese artist will lend his works to selected visitors of the Kunstmuseum Solingen for two months.
Lately, Masuyama has often heard the phrase, “Oh, if only everything could be just as it was before.” This kind of thinking is alien to him. He says, “People can’t forget — that’s their burden. But the reality is: there is no going back. And change is something very normal — the bud becomes a flower that then withers, and new plants grow again. We humans, our feelings, and all materials are subject to this change. We must not be afraid of it.” With his current works and exhibitions, he wants to encourage people to contribute and also to create something new themselves. “I want to work with visitors to discover what form art and culture can take in the future and how things can evolve for all of us after the corona pandemic.”
“People want everything to be as it was before. Because they can’t forget — that’s their burden. But the reality is: there is no going back.” — Hiroyuki Masuyama
So Masuyama, the time traveler, continues to navigate uncertainty and build bridges between the past, present, and future. I leave his studio with the feeling that as long as we all bring more creativity into our daily lives, everything will be okay, even if nothing will ever be the same.
Takeaway for innovators
- Get to know your target audiences well. And engage with them whenever you can. Conversations always open up new perspectives for you.
- You can create something completely new with your audience if you are open and willing to relinquish control, at least partially.
- Turn down an assignment if it doesn’t suit you. Instead, offer something that meets the client’s needs — and matches your approach.
- Every job you finish can provide the impetus for something new. Continue to give thought to the topics and place them in new contexts.
- Live in the knowledge that nothing is for eternity. Accept change. It is the way of the world.
About the artist
Hiroyuki Masuyama, born 1968 in Tsukuba, Japan, is a painter, sculptor and photographer. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo. In 1995 he came to Düsseldorf as a DAAD scholarship holder and attended the art academy there for four years. For another two years he visited the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. Since 2000 his work has been exhibited in various galleries and museums. He lives and works in Düsseldorf.
Upcoming exhibitions
Hiroyuki Masuyama Open Studio — until June 20th, and fall 2021, prior visits possible on request
Kunst im Hafen
Reisholzer Werftstrasse 75–77
D-40589 Duesseldorf — Hafen Reisholz
Kunstmuseum Solingen — 1st quarter 2022
Wuppertaler Str. 160
42653 Solingen-Graefrath
