HELLO MOTONORI AND A WARM WELCOME BACK TO THE 4BYSIX FAMILY. WE ARE EXCITED TO BE WORKING WITH YOU AGAIN ON OUR CURRENT VEHICLES FOR CHANGE INITIATIVE AND LOOK FORWARD TO TALKING TO YOU ABOUT THE NEW PIECE YOU HAVE MADE. 

TO START, YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY RECALLED MEMORIES OF LOOKING OUT OF A CAR WINDOW AS A CHILD, WATCHING UNFAMILIAR BUILDINGS AND HOUSES PASS BY WITHOUT KNOWING WHERE YOU WERE GOING. HOW HAS THAT FEELING OF UNCERTAINTY AND OBSERVATION SHAPED THE QUIET, SUBURBAN LANDSCAPES THAT APPEAR THROUGHOUT YOUR WORK?

As a child, I loved looking out at the scenery from the car while my parents were driving. When we took familiar roads, I would look forward to seeing certain buildings appear, and on highways I would count streetlights, signs, and fences passing by in a steady rhythm.

I was not really thinking about anything in particular, and there was never a special story attached to those moments. Looking back now, the feeling of watching landscapes pass by through the car window feels somehow similar to the landscapes I paint today.

CARS APPEAR FREQUENTLY IN YOUR PAINTINGS, OFTEN AS THE ONLY SUGGESTION OF HUMAN ACTIVITY WITHIN OTHERWISE QUIET, EMPTY LANDSCAPES. WHAT DRAWS YOU TO INCLUDING CARS IN THESE SCENES, AND DO THEY RELATE TO YOUR CHILDHOOD MEMORIES OF OBSERVING THE WORLD FROM A CAR WINDOW?

I think I treat cars almost like characters within the paintings. Cars are such an essential and familiar presence in urban and suburban landscapes, so when I try to depict scenery naturally, they tend to appear quite naturally as well.

At the same time, I am not especially interested in cars themselves, and I do not drive. Maybe because of that, the cars I paint often look a bit weak, awkward, or like toy miniature cars, and I like that quality about them. I have eight cats, and I also love encountering stray and community cats in everyday life. In reality, though, so many cats are killed by cars every day. When I think about that, perhaps the reason my painted cars appear a little clumsy or gentle is because somewhere in me I wish real cars could become slightly kinder vehicles too.

THE PERSPECTIVE OF YOUR PAINTINGS SOMETIMES EVOKES THE EXPERIENCE OF PASSING THROUGH A LANDSCAPE RATHER THAN INHABITING IT. HOW HAS THE MEMORY OF TRAVELLING BY CAR INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU CONSTRUCT YOUR COMPOSITIONS?

My main way of getting around is by bicycle. While cycling, I often take photographs of landscapes that catch my attention along the way. It creates a particular sense of distance that is different from walking close to something, but also different from the speed of traveling by car. That sense of distance feels connected to my personality as well. I do not dislike being involved with people, but when I get too close I sometimes feel overwhelmed, and when I become too distant I feel lonely. I think I keep a similar kind of distance from landscapes too, never wanting to get excessively close to them. It is the same when I compose a painting. I try not to make the composition overly dramatic, but at the same time

not too rigid either. Perhaps these feelings overlap somehow with my vague childhood memories.

DO THE COLOURS IN YOUR WORK ORIGINATE FROM SPECIFIC PLACES AND MEMORIES, OR DO THEY EVOLVE INTUITIVELY AS YOU PAINT?

Sometimes I try to reproduce colours faithfully, while other times I decide them more intuitively. Many of my landscapes are painted in muted grey tones, and I feel those colours are close to my impression of Osaka, the city in Japan where I have lived for many years.

Whether those colours have simply become embedded in my body over time, or whether my palette would change if I lived somewhere else, I honestly do not know. I just hope the colours can emerge as naturally as possible.

WHAT WAS IT ABOUT 4BYSIX'S MISSION THAT RESONATED WITH YOU PERSONALLY, AND HOW DO YOU SEE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ART AND SOCIAL IMPACT?

I have always been interested in things like donating or volunteering, but in reality I often do not have the financial or personal freedom to be deeply involved in those kinds of activities. Because of that, I felt it was a very meaningful thing to be able to contribute, even in a small way, to supporting people and children in difficult situations through art.

I was also drawn to the structure of 4BYSIX itself, artists creating works from discarded materials, with the proceeds circulating back into social support. It feels like a very natural and sustainable form of involvement. I also found the materials themselves, such as bus panels and compressed plastics, very unique and creatively inspiring.

I have never thought of artists as particularly special people. At the same time, I have sometimes felt a kind of frustration at not being able to participate more directly in support activities because of economic limitations. In that sense as well, I strongly relate to what 4BYSIX is doing.

YOU RECENTLY MADE A NEW PIECE ON ONE OF 4BYSIX’S UNCONVENTIONAL CANVASES MADE FROM REPURPOSED LORRY TARPAULIN, DID YOU FIND ANY SYMBOLIC CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MATERIAL, YOUR ARTISTIC THEMES AND THE GOALS OF THE VEHICLES FOR CHANGE INITIATIVE?

The tarpaulin had a very smooth surface, and when painting with acrylics it sometimes became sticky and difficult to handle. Honestly, it was not the easiest material to work with.

At the same time, I felt there was a strong connection between the story already contained within the material, truck tarpaulin, and the kinds of landscapes with cars that I paint.

I am not naturally someone who actively seeks drastic changes in my working process, so adapting to a material introduced by others was challenging in some ways. But because it was also such an unfamiliar experience for me, I found it genuinely interesting.

WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE ARTWORK YOU HAVE MADE? DID CONTRIBUTING TO 4BYSIX'S VEHICLES FOR CHANGE INITIATIVE GIVE YOUR SIGNATURE MOTIFS A NEW MEANING FOR YOU, CONNECTING THEM TO IDEAS OF COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL IMPACT?

For this work, I painted a gas station landscape, which is a motif I have been returning to quite often recently. Several cars also appear in the scene. To be honest, I am not sure whether participating in this project gave my usual motifs an entirely new meaning.

However, it does feel as though this new experience has simply become another part of the ongoing rhythm of my everyday practice.