ARTIST INTERVIEW

An exclusive interview with Jun Suzuki, a contemporary artist known for his pop line drawings.

"Art is the 'Angel of the Day'"

Jun Suzuki solo exhibition "Precious Memories"
<Saturday, June 22, 2024 - Monday, July 1, 2024>

《花に囲まれて》2023
《花に囲まれて》2023
《アスファルトに咲く花》2023
《アスファルトに咲く花》2023
《HELLO #4》2024
《HELLO #4》2024

Jun Suzuki is an artist who says he wants to deliver positive thoughts to people living in the present and the future. We spoke to him about his works, from his representative piece "Dokuro-kun" to his latest piece "VHS," which has a video tape motif, and the thoughts he puts into creating them.

- Did your father, a potter, influence you to become an artist?

There was a kiln in my parents' house, and I saw my father making pottery every day, but I didn't have any particular dreams about what I wanted to be in the future. Painting was just a hobby. However, I joined my father's band and played music together, and I think I was greatly influenced by the fact that I continued to do what I loved.

-- The "Skull Boy" series is your signature work, but what inspired you to start drawing skeletons?

My father collected a lot of records, and I saw skulls on the album covers of rock albums from the 60s and 70s as a child, and I thought they were cool, so I started drawing them. I was especially influenced by the covers of the Grateful Dead. I also saw skull tattoos on rock posters and my favorite musicians, and they were a symbol of cool things.

-- Was it the pop skeleton it is now?

It's completely different. I've always drawn in monochrome with a ballpoint pen, and they have a scary feel to them, and when I look at them now, even I think they're pretty gruesome.

-- Why did you start drawing cute, gentle skeletons?

About four years ago, I was drawing pictures and working part-time at a restaurant at night, but the restaurant closed down due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. I lost my job and just continued to draw vaguely, and due to the atmosphere in the world at the time, I became depressed, and the skulls I had been drawing all this time began to look like symbols of death...and that's when, for the first time, I started to hate my own drawings. But I really didn't want something I loved and had been doing for so long to become something negative.

It was around the time that I started doing acrylic painting, and people around me started saying they wanted to see more bright colors, so I realized I had to change something, and so I developed my current style of painting pop characters using colorful colors.

《アスファルトに咲く花》2023
《アスファルトに咲く花》2023

- What was the idea behind "Mr. Skull"?

I think the skull is a symbol of death after all. But I also wanted to show the living side of it, not as a pendulum of life and death, so I drew it as a mixture of a flesh-and-blood human body and a skeletal face.

I've always lived with a vague fear of death, but since I started drawing Skull-kun, that feeling has faded. Feeling anxious about death just means you want to live, you're clinging to life, so it's not a negative thing. I've come to think like that, and I've felt a lot better about myself.

Also, since last year, I have been drawing Gorotaro-kun, a friend and family member of Skull-kun. The cat I had kept for a long time at my parents' house passed away, and the whole family was feeling down when they met a rescue cat. I started drawing Gorotaro-kun because I felt that the baton of life is passed on.

《花に囲まれて》2023
《花に囲まれて》2023

--Please tell us about the "VHS" series, which you are presenting for the first time.

As the title of the exhibition "Precious Memories" suggests, I was talking with the curator, Noma (Hiroshi), about the theme of memory, and this idea came up. Past memories connect to the present and future. All kinds of memories, such as playing music with my father and my pet cat, have shaped who I am today, so I chose a video tape as a motif, as a place where all those memories are stored.

The packaging designs and visuals of VHS tapes from the '80s and '90s are really cool, so I sample them while searching for and combining colors that I've arranged myself, rather than using paint colors as is. Even with red, I don't paint the red paint, but rather mix it with white and orange to make it my own color, and I think that the color won't become my own just by pouring it out of the tube.

In this work, words that saved me when I stumbled in life and that still encourage me today are also important motifs. For example, I used the phrase "met an angel" like the title of a VHS tape, inspired by an essay by the writer Ramo Nakajima (*1). He writes about being saved by flowers and scenery on the roadside, or someone's casual words, when you're in despair and want to die, using the phrase "angel of the day" and it's a phrase I really like. There are similar lyrics in a song by my favorite band, The Doors (*2), and it made a connection within me.

-- This work seems to have developed from your letter series such as "LOVE" and "HELLO."

The "LOVE" and "HELLO" letter series convey positive messages straightforwardly, but the VHS series focuses on the dual aspects of words. The English slang "Dope" can mean a drug, but it can also mean something cool or stylish, and "LOL" (※3) is an internet slang similar to "lol" in English-speaking countries, but it can also be interpreted as Lots of Love, so it has that kind of fun to it.

《HELLO #4》2024
《HELLO #4》2024

-- The reversal of meanings ties into the story of the skull. I feel that artworks can be a catalyst for becoming positive when you feel sad, and become an "angel" for each person who sees them.

Someone once bought my work for their son who was really struggling with his entrance exam studies. Apparently, the son loved drawing and used to draw, but in order to concentrate on his studies, he had fewer opportunities to draw and be exposed to art, which caused stress. I felt so happy when I heard that he felt better after hanging my work in his room. I was so happy that he shared what he had drawn with his family and came to tell us the joy he felt.

There are times when I'm feeling down or not in the mood and I can't draw. At times like that, even if I go to see a movie to change my mood, I end up thinking about the movie and can't get into the story at all. In the end, I think the only way I can sublimate my feelings or find relief is by drawing.

I draw because I like it, but if I do what I find fun and within the scope of my abilities, I can make other people happy in ways other than just financially. I feel that the power of art is amazing.

From his representative work "Skull-kun" and the letter series to the memory-themed "VHS" series. With small memories, we can live. Jun Suzuki's solo exhibition "Precious Memories" will be held from Saturday, June 22nd to Monday, July 1st.

*1 Ramo Nakajima is a novelist, playwright, and essayist. The essay mentioned here is "The Angel of the Day."
*2 Lyrics by Jim Morrison: "The day's divinity, the day's angel." It is thought that Nakajima Ramo's essay was also inspired by these lyrics.
*3 Abbreviation for Laughing out Loud.

ABOUT ARTIST

Jun Suzuki
Jun Suzuki
Jun Suzuki
Born in Miyagi Prefecture in 1991. Jun Suzuki is a contemporary artist known for his pop line drawings. Influenced by her father, a ceramic artist, she was exposed to various art forms from an early age and began drawing. Her works express positive messages about life, death, and love, and she hopes to create an emotional connection with viewers and people living in the future.
作家ページへ

ABOUT EXHIBITION

展覧会

Jun Suzuki solo exhibition "Precious Memories"

2024.6.22 (Sat) - 2024.7.1 (Mon)

会場

YUGEN Gallery
KD Minamiaoyama Building 4F, 3-1-31 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo

会期

2024.6.22 (Sat) - 2024.7.1 (Mon)

開館時間

Weekdays: 13:00-19:00
First day, weekends and holidays: 13:00-20:00
*Ends at 17:00 on the final day only

在廊日

June 22 (Sat), 23 (Sun), 29 (Sat), 30 (Sun)

*The dates when the artist is in the gallery may change, so please see the pinned post on the gallery’s Instagram for the latest information.

https://www.instagram.com/yugengallery.jp/

入館料

free

注意事項

*Please note that the dates and opening hours may change without notice depending on the situation.

YUGEN Gallery will be holding Suzuki Jun's solo exhibition "Precious Memories" from Saturday, June 22nd to Monday, July 1st, 2024.

In this exhibition, in addition to the new series "VHS," which expresses "irreplaceable memories" as the title of the solo exhibition suggests, new works of "Dokuro-kun" and "Gorotaro" will be announced, and the artist will be taking orders for his first "Words Series."