Artwork "Five Red Spheres" for the Mathematical Sciences Building, University of Tokyo

When painting is considered in space, the form of painting changes automatically. That is because it cannot escape the influence of surrounding conditions. If the change cannot be avoided, the new form will be one that is more suited to survival. This resembles organic process such as the reproduction of living creatures. As painting burns energy inside its own territory it attempts to reach out and connect with the outside world. This state of affairs is exactly like the operation of the two spheres of the brain, performing completely different functions but working in tandem. Eyes look outward and inward simultaneously. Involvement with the environment always takes place through conscious work that entails this sort of organic linkage. This is how my paintings are brought to life in order to become part of the environment.

When I say painting, I am referring to decolorizing. Decolorization is a process that begins in a world where color already exists. I consciously select colors from the surrounding environment and then use chemicals to remove them, thereby revealing the world concealed under them. This action is exactly the opposite of applying paint. Rather than expending my own energy, I let an aggressive bleaching agent act. I set conditions for the intended result according to data I have gathered after many attempts at decolorizing, and then I wait for the color to fade as the bleaching agent does its work, a kind of frottage, together with the sun. Once the chemical agent has been applied to the cloth a reaction will occur, so it is impossible to start over or make corrections. I cannot intervene in the process while it is taking place and can only watt for the color to fade over time. Since it is impossible to exert control, my role is more difficult than if I were taking conscious action. I started the decolorization process for this work in September l998, soaking 45 meters of cloth in the bleaching agent until February l999. Because of unusual climatic conditions in France, the sun, an essential element in the final stage of decolorization, stayed hidden. The only sunlight was faint and brief, appearing from time to time through gaps in the clouds. The effect of this winter sun on my decolorization was to fix the details of drawing on the cloth more firmly than expected. I selected five pieces of cloth showing subtle changes of color from the 45 meters of negative drawings created by the color-removal process and attached them to wooden panels.

I have been making art without using pigment or a brush for some time now. At the same time, I have become more and more involved with the outside world and the majority of my work has become three-dimensional. My decolorized works have the appearance of paintings at first glance, but because they are created with the use of outside force to remove colors already existing in the real world they tend to take three-dimensional form. This is probably why the connection of inner and outer forces somehow comes to resemble sculpture that is fused with the environment. This condition is revealed straightforwardly by the traces of the low winter sun burnt into the work.