Uhitsutowa

I blow into the glass, giving it shape. I apply heat to the shape that remains. The shape that is created transforms through melting, and wavers as it appears from the kiln. The shape continues to change with each cycle, and the boundary of being created becomes unclear. The shape made by my hands loses its outline as it melts, and disappears into the material as a structure. My action becomes a trace of the material; it feels as if the autonomy of the form transfers from me to the material. And observing the final shape that appears, I meditate on what brought it into beig.

The reason for feeling a strong attraction towards icons painted by the monk Andrei Rublev from the 15th century, or the Korean folk art Minwha, is perhaps because fundamentally the profound question of what abstract is, is hidden there. The reason why the eyes linger on ancient roman blown glass bottles for longer than the glassware created with the best of contemporary craftsmanship, may be because the same part of the brain is reacting. My excitement is builds, that maybe these parts that carelessly anchor the suffering of the body, have revived with a universality that makes sense to the present day. I must not be the only one with the impulse to gently grab hold of the real artwork.

（Public／Selection Committee Noboru Tsubaki）