ナにいーノシけリハツノハメノフ

In a corner of the vast universe, on this planet, life emerged and evolved, eventually inventing language. Over a thousand years after the birth of kana characters, katakana-like patterns unexpectedly appeared before me while I was experimenting with origami-inspired artworks.

This work is created by drawing multiple straight lines on intricately folded paper, similar to origami. The title reflects a random string of katakana characters, partly mixed with hiragana, that appear in the work. I have yet to fully understand its meaning. However, if I were to repeat this process thousands of times, it might not only produce understandable words but also potentially generate sentences including kanji, Latin characters, and other writing systems by chance.

The acts of folding paper and of drawing lines are quite simple. Perhaps among intelligent creatures on distant exoplanets, there might be an artist who has come to similar acts, grinning when he unexpectedly finds patterns similar to the characters in their own language.

There is a perspective that coincidence is merely an inevitability that we cannot recognize. However, I believe that because we, trapped within fate, cannot truly sense this inevitability, we are able to enjoy coincidences even if they are illusions, and I can create artworks with excitement. I want to cherish the fortune of being born as an intelligent being on this planet.

This is a work of contemporary shodo (Japanese calligraphy) art created with acrylic marker on tracing paper (75 g/m2, acid-free). A gray wooden frame is included. The frame holds the artwork at the four corners using small magnets.

Paper size: 42 x 59.4 cm

Frame size: 40 x 57.4 x 7.8 cm

Frame preparation may take 3 to 4 days.