西垣肇也樹 / Hayaki Nishigaki

1985 Born in Hyogo
2012 M.F.A. Painting, Kyoto University of Art & Design

Plans and manages the Kyoto Sento Arts Festival, with the public baths and the surrounding environment Kyoto as a platform for art.
Creates paintings using traditional Japanese paper and sumi-ink on “Godzilla as a vessel for the Japanese, a defeated country”.
Major awards include Shibuya Awards 2017 Grand Prize, SNBA Award, Kyoto Exhibition (Kyoten) 2016 Suda Prize, etc.

Solo Exhibitions
2014
”KYOTO Izumiya Ryokan × Hayaki Nishigaki” Izumiya Ryokan, Kyoto
2018
“Wonderland Open World” TS4312, Tokyo

Group Exhibitions
2014
“Kyoto Sento Art Festival 2014” (planning and management), Kyoto
2015

“Kyoto Sento Art Festival 2015” (plannig and mnagement), Kyoto
 “STUDIOHAIDENBAN OPEN STUDIO” Studio Haidenban, Kyoto
2016
“Hayaki Nishigaki, Yoshihiro Takeuchi two people exhibition” TS4312, Tokyo
2017
JOINT EXHIBITION “yodo studio × STUDIOHAIDENBAN” Studio Haidenban, Kyoto
“The Festival of Kyoto Sento Art MOMOTARO 2017” (plannng and management), Kyoto
 “Shibuya Art Festival 2017” Shibuya station special venue, Tokyo
2018
“Wonder Seeds Exhibition 2018” Tokyo Arts And Space Hongo, Tokyo

Cosmetic (cosmetics) is derived from cosmos (universe). Humans used to paint mud on their skin, wear stones as accessories, and tried to establish a dialog with the unknown universe (order). However, the industrial revolution in modern history brought humans the ability to manipulate nature, and made humans the order. Kuniyoshi was interested in Western paintings and collected enough to even show others; from that study, he would have learnt the idea that Westerners (humans) created the universe (order). He then made an ironic statement referring to Arcimboldo, that wearing naked “people” on the face = cosmetic. In the eyes of the Japanese who believed in animism, these ideas from Westerners would have been seen as advanced, and violent.
When the first Godzilla film was released, Godzilla appeared as a spokes character for the only citizens of the world who have suffered nuclear attacks. With the change in times, Godzilla became a hero, environmental issues were picked up, and even his son appeared on-screen, transforming him into a father. Godzilla was set in a certain era and wandered as a monster without context and ego. Godzilla without an ego, was given the value (the Japanese) as a vessel to represent something, but the content was far from the essence of the first Godzilla.
A similar phenomenon exists in certain parts of modern information communication as well. Communication done on the internet, including email and SNS, is always managed by setting up the communication environment in a place away from the author. In addition, under such environment, by a pastiche of various fixed phrases, any ego is erased, recorded, and manipulated. That is, our communication promotes unconsciousness under such environment to enable smooth communication.
Nature was once the order, mud was painted to establish dialogue, and cosmetics were the desire for communication; with the simplification of desires, an environment with a new order has become possible and has been reestablished. By citing Kuniyoshi’s eye and method of observing the intrinsic, I made the vessel = Godzilla (the Japanese) into the fixed phrases = order – cosmetic. By pasting the sumi-ink as a recording medium onto the monster as a vessel, I aim to make the intrinsic visible, and reflect upon the order, the desire for communication.

Hayaki Nishigaki’s work is a powerful combination of Godzilla, the iconic character representing postwar Japan infamous even in the West to be a “made in Japan”, and the Zen method of ink wash painting symbolising religion in Japan to depict it. In pursuit for originality Nishigaki applies traditional methods of landscape painting, and experiments with the vast use of text like that in conceptual art, showing his vigorous effort upon the canvas. It is such explorations that have led Nishigaki to accomplish his style.

(Public)