Some twenty years ago, I encountered ''The Descent from the Cross'' painted by Peter Paul Rubens at an exhibition held in Japan.  I, living in the present day in Japan, was moved by the painting drawn by a great master having lived in Flanders more than 300 years ago. Before I knew it, I felt like, "I want to leave my messages for the people living hundreds of years from now!" That was the beginning of my career as an artist. Since then, I have been painting in my hometown Oita prefecture in Japan.

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My artwork began with colored pencil drawing and then shifted into oil painting. It’s difficult to explain specifically here, but I’ve been trying various ways of expression by applying the technique of oil painting into colored pencil drawing, and vice versa. I am an oil painter now, but looking back, the experience having worked with colored pencil drawing is giving no small influence on the execution of my oil painting. However, there are still a lot of techniques and ways of expression that I want to try.

 

I think this world is full of beauty that we should respect. My artwork is supported by the people around me and the benefits from nature. Before being an artist, I want to be a craftsman who can record the beauty of nature and the things that I was moved by, without forgetting all my appreciation to them.

 

For me, art is something I can give back to nature which is full of respectful beauty, and also a common language which connects me and the world.