ARTIST INTERVIEW

An exclusive interview with Masumi Iwakawa, a painter who is also a saxophonist.
"BLOW" is a soul-stirring solo exhibition like an improvisation
<Saturday, March 2, 2024 - Monday, March 11, 2024>

2017年にベルリンで開催した個展「sonnensamen」の様子

ニューヨークでのセッションの様子（左から4番目が岩川）

サクソフォン演奏中の岩川

Masumi Iwakawa is a painter and saxophonist. Fascinated by painting, he moved to the United States in 2013 with the desire to make a name for himself in the art world. Since then, he has lived in New York and Berlin, Germany, and is currently based in Ibaraki Prefecture, where he continues to create his works. In recent years, he has begun to work on abstract expressionism that seems to depict the folds of human emotions. What is the source of his creativity?

-- In New York, you used a room connected to Warhol and Basquiat as your studio.

A person I knew from Hiroshima ran a restaurant in NoHo, New York, in a building that had been owned by (Andy) Warhol, and Basquiat lived on the second floor. The restaurant was on the first floor, and the second floor, which was used as an office, was going to be turned into a shared office, so I was allowed to work in the restaurant and rent it to him for a limited period of one year.

ニューヨーク・ノーホーの岩川のアトリエがあったビル

I also went to Basquiat's grave and placed my business card and flowers, which have the same address as his studio, next to his tombstone covered in kiss marks. Whenever I entered the studio, I would say "Hello, Basquiat!" in my mind, and I was secretly moved as I touched and smelled the old brick walls, which haven't changed since then. It was a shared office, so there were other people there during the day, but when I was creating alone in the middle of the night, I would imagine that Basquiat's ghost had returned, and it made me happy.

- What was it like living and creating in New York?

People of various ethnicities from various countries gather here, and various languages can be heard. It's a very lively and special city, but I often feel lonely, and perhaps as a manifestation of those feelings, I drew black patterns on colorful screens at the time, or created works with strong contrasts. Looking back, I think that the reason I painted like I was repainting, rather than layering colors, was because I believed that I could create miracles at any time, depending on myself.

ニューヨークでのセッションの様子（左から4番目が岩川）

--After that, you moved to Berlin, Germany.

Everything in New York was stimulating, and I was able to take on many challenges with the help of many people around me. It was a valuable experience, and starting my career as a painter in New York was a major turning point for me.

On the other hand, as I was just starting out as a painter, the new things being created in New York felt like they were already complete, and I began to seek the conflicts of real human beings, the rawness of their hunger to create things.

I've always liked Polish film posters and the video works of Jan Svankmajer, and when I traveled to several places in Europe I felt the same atmosphere in Berlin. I decided that I wanted to immerse myself there and create my work as if I was breathing.

-- From New York to Berlin. What changes did you experience?

There are so many artists in Berlin, both in music and painting, and I met so many of them. I started taking my saxophone and participating in sessions, and formed a band to perform live and record, and my musical activities increased. Of course, I also actively went to art spaces where I could exhibit my paintings, and participated in the art market, which was held every weekend.

2017年にベルリンで開催した個展「sonnensamen」の様子

-- Art and music. You're what people call a two-sword style these days.

In Japan, I am often asked, "Which will you do, painting or music?" But the people I met in Berlin who aspire to express themselves are all really free, taking photos, making animations, singing, and so on. Everyone is free to express themselves and in their own way. I realized that expression is fun by touching the sense of accepting the work in front of me and the person who creates it without comparing it with others or judging it by its history. I realized that doing music and painting is natural for me during my life in Berlin, and it has influenced my work since then.

ベルリンでのバンドメンバー（左から2番目が岩川）

What kind of influence does this have on your work?

Just like New York, it is a society where all kinds of people from all over the world, all kinds of ethnicities, and all kinds of people gather. I witnessed the reality of being alienated because of trying to live honestly, and I started to paint people. Many of the portraits have expressions that are difficult to read, and I think the climate in Berlin had something to do with it, but I started using deeper colors than in my previous works. Germany has a painful and sad history of violence, and I have had the opportunity to hear directly from people who lived through the time when it was divided into East and West, and I felt a lot about this as a person from Hiroshima.

The picture book I read in my childhood has always stayed in my mind, a story with beautiful pictures but a somewhat sad story. Even as a child, I felt that there is human charm in the coexistence of beauty and ugliness, and I feel that this feeling was connected to my life in Germany.

--What is the difference between drawing a picture and making music?

Both music and painting are a dialogue with myself and solitary work. The wind instrument I play only produces a single note, so by playing with other instruments, a beautiful world of sound spreads out. In live performances, I involve the audience and everyone shares the moment the music is born. I love playing solo, but I also feel a strong joy in creating music together with others.

Music is about expressing your own style while understanding the rules for creating together. On the other hand, painting gives you the feeling of being able to get rid of all the rules and freely delve deep into your own world. That's why I don't want to do something that's obvious. It's the feeling of always searching for something that I find beautiful.

When I play the saxophone, people often say, "That's a manly saxophone." Of course, it's great to play a phrase, but more than anything, I want to focus on my own tone and the charm of each note. In my paintings, I want to depict layers of air like the wind blowing through the earth.

サクソフォン演奏中の岩川

- You also gave birth in 2022.

Since I gave birth, I have been holding my child in my arms, and I feel like I am being held in my arms. I was so busy raising my child that I was not able to paint for almost two years, but during that time I felt like I was surrounded by warm, soft human body temperature and love. From that, I want to cherish the warm, human, bold things that well up from inside the body before they become words, whether in painting or music. I realized that this is the origin of my expression. The works I am drawing for this solo exhibition are breathing life into my newly reborn self, and I feel like I am BLOWING.

The abstract expression, reminiscent of large and elegant petals and exposed rocks with water seeping out, is a new frontier for Iwakawa. "If the wind blows on the people who touch the work at the venue, that is my breath," he says in the exhibition "BLOW," which will be held at YUGEN Gallery until Monday, March 11th.
For further details, please see the exhibition details page below.

ABOUT ARTIST

Masumi Iwakawa

Masumi Iwakawa/Painter. Born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1985. She started playing the saxophone at the age of 16 and entered music college, but dropped out. While studying jazz under Suetoshi Shimizu and pursuing musical activities, she began painting on her own. In 2013, she traveled to New York, USA, and held her first solo exhibition, "BIG BANG" IN THE EAR, in Manhattan. Moved to Berlin, Germany in 2017. Returned to Japan in 2019. She is actively involved in activities such as holding live sessions with her husband, Hikaru Iwakawa, who is a quena player.

To the artist page