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Chaos and Heat: Launch in Japan, December 1986–February 1991

My first four years in Japan were the most difficult and rewarding in my entire life. I began to base my consideration and creation in the notion of “humanity in the cosmos and the cosmic nature in humans.” My aim was to transcend the limits of matter and space-time and to seek the truth of an eternal connection between humans and the universe. I also gradually transitioned from “borrowing from primordial time” and “borrowing from nature” to a cosmology based on the relationship between mankind and nature, including a more holistic view integrating mankind, art, and nature. I came to recognize that the essence of gunpowder is the same as the energy and spirit that human beings possessed from the beginning of their evolution, as well as the essence of the primordial universe. When artworks are created on this basis, gunpowder explosions become more than just a means.

I was deeply fascinated by the unseen world while struggling to stand up in the visible world. I actively contemplated from a wide perspective of the universe and extraterrestrials, thinking that contemporary art should transcend the binary comparison of Eastern and Western cultures.

During this time, humanity experienced drastic change—the Tiananmen Square incident occurred and the Berlin Wall fell. The birth of my child also ignited a sense of responsibility within me, prompting introspection: What should I be doing? Why am I doing it? Exploring the universe is synonymous with exploring oneself, and vice versa. All of these experiences laid the groundwork for Primeval Fireball.


#6 (cat.9)
Gunpowder Painting No. 8-10
1988
Gunpowder, acrylic, and paper pulp on canvas
Approx. 228 x 183 cm

In order to shoot a news segment about me, NHK purchased large canvases for me. Critic Akihiko Takami helped contact Marutamaya Ogatsu Fireworks factory to provide the gunpowder and venue necessary for my creation. This work expresses the “qi (energy)” between human, nature, and the universe, through a dragon-like aura.

#7 (cat. 6)
Gunpowder Painting No. 8-27
1987
Gunpowder on paper
27 x 24 cm

#8 (cat. 7)
Gunpowder Painting No. 8-25
1987
Gunpowder on paper
27 x 24 cm

When I first arrived in Japan, I continued to experiment, on the kitchen counter of my apartment, with gunpowder extracted from children’s fireworks that I purchased. These two works utilized shikishi, a type of Japanese paper board often used for autographs. In comparison with Chinese rice paper, which burns through at once, shikishi proved to be more resilient to explosions.

#9 (cat. 10)
Space No. 1
1988
Gunpowder on paper
Approx. 162 x 88 cm each

Space No. 1 is an early installation work of mine in which I utilized a mirror to expand the space. I liked the fact that “space” also refers to the universe in English. In this work, I used, by mistake, a synthetic material, which is often made into inexpensive blinds in Japan. The explosion caused severe damage to the material, but the blast marks were charged with energy. (Only the blinds of the original work are displayed here, not the mirror.)

#10 (cat. 8)
Sketchbooks (1987−1995, Japan)
1987–1995
11 spiral-bound sketchbooks
Approx. 32 x 26 cm each

Completed works are often the fruits of my creative growth. What lies behind them are a number of sketchbooks that I accumulated over the years. From around 1987 to 1997, I filled up approximately 14 sketchbooks. They recorded my departure from my hometown, from where I brought with me its ancient cosmology, including I Ching, fengshui, qigong, and Daoist thought.

In Japan, I not only delved into the true essence of Eastern culture but also was dazzled by the modern society and contemporary art. I was especially exhilarated to be able to read, for free, numerous beautifully crafted books about developments in cosmology at bookstores. The intertwining of time and space and the merging of different influences naturally connected to my interest in the cosmos, starry skies, and the unseen world that dated back to my childhood. These experiences induced a significant leap in my artistic practice and methodology, and these “seedlings” have since bloomed and borne fruit in the artworks of this new exhibition.

#11 (cat. 14)
Drawing for Ascending Dragon
1990
Gunpowder, charcoal, and ink on paper
66.5 x 72 cm

In 1990, I participated in the exhibition Chine demain pour hier in Aix-en-Provence, France, which marked my first journey from Asia to Europe. This gunpowder drawing portrays my imagined explosion event Ascending Dragon (unrealized). At dusk, gunpowder and a fuse would ignite an airborne dragon, which would ascend from the foot of Mont Sainte-Victoire to the summit. The attempt to bring Ascending Dragon to life was also the first artwork related to my dialogue with Cézanne and Western art history.

#12
“Craters” Made by Humans for Their Own Planet No. 1: Looking at Mont Sainte-Victoire from a Distance, the Explosion Dedicated to Paul Cézanne
1990
Gunpowder and ink on paper
63.5 x 94 cm

#13
Crater
1990
Gunpowder on papier-mâché
Approx. 56 x 67 x 2.5 cm

These two works are both related to my explosion event 45.5 Meteorite Craters Made by Humans on Their 45.5 Hundred Million Year Old Planet: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 3. I brought a team to dig out the outlines of craters on the land of a village in southern France. We filled the holes with pulp made from old newspapers. The process, evoking the manual labor in of a preindustrial era, took approximately a month to complete. Lastly, we placed gunpowder inside craters, connecting them with fuses, which we ignited at sunset. In the span of three seconds, as fleeting as an Epiphyllum flower, it is as if the earth is split by lightning and thunder. Amidst the flames and smoke, I entered a temporal space of the earth’s doomsday!

This project allowed people to experience the transient moment when the earth, after enduring countless long years of cultivation, returns to nothingness. It also let audiences view and comprehend the fate of our planet from a cosmic perspective: all stars and planets are born from explosions before they ultimately die. So, what is the significance of our efforts for this planet? The only truth that can be asserted is that in knowing death, one can cherish life. Similarly, by understanding the inevitable fate of a dying earth, humans may be inclined to care for and cherish our planet more.

P3’s curator Michiko Takagishi and producer Shinobu Itō witnessed this huge explosion, and that planted a seed for my solo exhibition Primeval Fireball at P3 art and environment the following year.

#14 (cat. 15)
Fetus Movement: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 5
1990
Gunpowder and ink on paper
76 x 57 cm

The explosion event depicted in this gunpowder drawing took place on a mountaintop overlooking the Inland Sea of Japan. I had a bulldozer level a rectangular “canvas” on the ground. I dug out furrows and laid out fuses connecting packets of gunpowder. Upon ignition, people felt the ground tremor, as flames erupted from the earth, resembling rows of new crops sprouting. Seismographs recorded the movements of the earth before, during, and after the explosion moment, as well as the resonance between human behavior and the earth—allowing people to experience the fetal movements before the birth of the earth.

During those years, I was primarily interested in two concepts: perspectives from the universe and dialogues between humans and the cosmos. I sought to integrate the explosion moment in my artworks into the ongoing cosmic movements that have persisted since the Big Bang.

#15 (cat. 11)
Human Abode: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 1
1989
Gunpowder on paper
Approx. 213 x 154 cm

This drawing depicts the explosion event I created in 1989 on the dry riverbeds of the Tama River. This was also my first outdoor explosion event. I set up a yurt by the riverside, symbolic of the homes of nomadic peoples and also the habitat of humanity itself. Detonating the yurt with gunpowder hinted at war, or the human destruction of the earth’s ecological environments. I imagined extraterrestrials as the audience. For this explosion, what humanity is transmitting to the universe through gunpowder is no longer war and slaughter.

#16
I Am an Extraterrestrial, Project for Meeting with Tenjin (Heavenly Gods): Project for Extraterrestrials No. 4
1990
Gunpowder and ink on paper mounted on canvas
227.4 x 182 cm
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum

In October 1990, on an empty dockyard space in Fukuoka, Japan, I laid out large crop circles using gunpowder and fuses. I aimed to ignite these extraterrestrial symbols, hoping for a momentary “oneness” between mankind and other forms of life in the universe. While I was preparing for the explosion event, mysterious crop circles suddenly appeared in the rice fields of Fukuoka. Many people expressed that it was unprecedented in Japan—perhaps a response from beyond, echoing my project.