GOOD ROCK
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"This is really something, isn't it!"
An elderly man, who had been slowly passing by on his bicycle, squeezed his brakes and spoke.
The piece he stopped for happened to be my personal favorite. When you create art in various public spaces, you occasionally encounter moments like this—moments where people of entirely different professions, ages, and genders are inexplicably drawn to the same thing.
"I don’t know why, but it’s nice, isn’t it?" I replied.
"Yeah, I don’t know a thing about art, but I think this is great. Keep it up!"
What, I wondered, is this "universal goodness" that transcends all barriers?
When I think of things that are universally loved, pop icons like The Beatles come to mind. In every era, there are works that remain cherished, even by those with no formal knowledge of music. Someday, we hope to create something like that. The goal of "Pop" is surely not just to strengthen a closed community of like-minded people who share the same thoughts.
I have begun to think of "Pop" as synonymous with "Universal Beauty." To me, Pop is the act of reaching out to those outside the community of people who already "get it." How do we speak to someone who doesn't share our language? Our voices cannot reach that far on their own. So, what kind of words or expressions are needed? Pop is the endless search for that answer. Its role is to call out to the vast horizons of ignorance and indifference.
I am not particularly knowledgeable about music, nor would I call myself a devotee. Yet, I love The Beatles. In their work, I see the will to speak to a stranger who speaks a different language. I feel that the most important thing in doing so is to believe, more than anyone else, that within the wasteland of ignorance and indifference, there always lies intelligence, brilliance, and conscience.
Before deciding what to make, I wanted to return to a blank slate and consider, together with all of you, what it is we actually find beautiful.
The nine stones exhibited here were mostly collected within the prefecture since I moved to Watari. Out of the many stones I picked up, I have displayed those that made me feel an inexplicable "pang" of emotion—stones that felt like finished works of art in themselves. I have also included drawings in colored pencil, created in my attempt to understand the "goodness" of these stones.
I would like to engage in a dialogue with everyone visiting Yurikan through a survey: which stone gives you that inexplicable "pang"?
Stones reach our hands over unfathomable stretches of time, shaped by crustal movements and mountain-building. Even the frightening earthquake we experienced recently will, someday, somewhere, lead someone to encounter a new stone.
Even in the wake of fear, we believe it is a wonderful human quality to be moved by the beauty of such a stone.
August 2023
Saya Kubota
An elderly man, who had been slowly passing by on his bicycle, squeezed his brakes and spoke.
The piece he stopped for happened to be my personal favorite. When you create art in various public spaces, you occasionally encounter moments like this—moments where people of entirely different professions, ages, and genders are inexplicably drawn to the same thing.
"I don’t know why, but it’s nice, isn’t it?" I replied.
"Yeah, I don’t know a thing about art, but I think this is great. Keep it up!"
What, I wondered, is this "universal goodness" that transcends all barriers?
When I think of things that are universally loved, pop icons like The Beatles come to mind. In every era, there are works that remain cherished, even by those with no formal knowledge of music. Someday, we hope to create something like that. The goal of "Pop" is surely not just to strengthen a closed community of like-minded people who share the same thoughts.
I have begun to think of "Pop" as synonymous with "Universal Beauty." To me, Pop is the act of reaching out to those outside the community of people who already "get it." How do we speak to someone who doesn't share our language? Our voices cannot reach that far on their own. So, what kind of words or expressions are needed? Pop is the endless search for that answer. Its role is to call out to the vast horizons of ignorance and indifference.
I am not particularly knowledgeable about music, nor would I call myself a devotee. Yet, I love The Beatles. In their work, I see the will to speak to a stranger who speaks a different language. I feel that the most important thing in doing so is to believe, more than anyone else, that within the wasteland of ignorance and indifference, there always lies intelligence, brilliance, and conscience.
Before deciding what to make, I wanted to return to a blank slate and consider, together with all of you, what it is we actually find beautiful.
The nine stones exhibited here were mostly collected within the prefecture since I moved to Watari. Out of the many stones I picked up, I have displayed those that made me feel an inexplicable "pang" of emotion—stones that felt like finished works of art in themselves. I have also included drawings in colored pencil, created in my attempt to understand the "goodness" of these stones.
I would like to engage in a dialogue with everyone visiting Yurikan through a survey: which stone gives you that inexplicable "pang"?
Stones reach our hands over unfathomable stretches of time, shaped by crustal movements and mountain-building. Even the frightening earthquake we experienced recently will, someday, somewhere, lead someone to encounter a new stone.
Even in the wake of fear, we believe it is a wonderful human quality to be moved by the beauty of such a stone.
August 2023
Saya Kubota
- Period
- 2023
- Work for
- 宮城県亘理町地域おこし協力隊事業 亘理町立郷土資料館 展示作品
- Location
- Miyagi, Japan
- Category
- Art Project
- Team
- Eiji Uozumi + Saya Kubota
- Material
- stone, colored pencils, and mixed media