板橋 準一

Junichi Itahashi

Artist’s Statement
My wife told me that my first Artist’s Statement sounded arrogant.
Of course I disagreed, but she didn’t elaborate on her comment, as usual.
I disagreed, but I agreed I never liked the idea of writing such a thing.
I know this trend of writing an Artist’s Statement is a fairly recent phenomenon.
What’s more, I always thought it was a silly idea. Whatever an artist may want
to express in painting or sculpture or whatever else, it’s there in the work.
If the artist thinks a statement somehow helps the viewer to“understand”
the work better or more easily, that is ridiculous, absurd and pure bullshit.
If the artist thinks that seriously, he/she should write instead of making art.
A painter paints because he/she doesn’t know any other way to
“express” the darn thing. That hasn’t changed ever since a human
scratched something on a rock for the first time.

So, xxxx the Artist's Statement!
Oh, xxxx... My daughter says I’ve already made a statement!