Interview with Yusuke Tsuchiya
1
Tell us about the things or events you are/were emotionally moved by.
Looking back, they seem to be small things.
When moments of everyday life capture my eye,
or the things I hadn’t paid attention to before suddenly feel so precious,
I feel moved and want to keep them as they are in my mind.
2
Why did you choose sculpture as a means of creative expression?
This is an abstract question, but what do you think about the role of a sculptor in society?
I originally entered an arts university to study three-dimensional objects,
and ended up majoring in sculpture. There is no special reason I chose sculpture,
but clay works well for me as I can make forms by hand with it.
I’ve been working with terracotta since I was a university student.
I don’t think that the role of a sculptor in society is big,
but I think immersing yourself in spaces that sculptures create,
and having time to face ‘beings’ in front of you, could help conjure important feelings.
3.
Your portraits in terracotta don’t give clues to identify sex or age.
Are they self projections?
I intend to create sculptures in which you can’t identify sex or age.
That is because I want them to represent human beings comprehensively,
away from someone’s personal stories.
Most of my works are not modeled after specific persons,
so they might, to some extent, project myself in certain components.
But I think they also project common traits between myself and entire human beings rather than something personal in me.
4.
Your small pieces using a part of a human body as a motif,
bring viewers closer to the sculptures through the act of “touching them”.
Tell us about this theme.
I originally started making small pieces of hands as a study for a sculpture,
but their rich expressions and symbolic presence made me think that they are a powerful motif to express human beings.
I also like their anonymousness resulting from using a small part of the body.
A series of feet and profiles have been created as well.
5.
Tell us about the concept for the upcoming show in Kasper.
The title “arium” is a suffix meaning “a place for”.
You don’t usually use it on its own. My works are, similarly,
parts that are cut off from a whole.
What they individually mean might be modest,
but I hope they link together like constellations in viewers’ minds,
and make them feel their own unique space in the show.
