“Hawaii 2” 　　　　　　　Seki Masakazu

This is the title of the 30F (91.0 x 72.7 cm) oil painting I used on the invitation card for the exhibition at the Aatrando Gallery in Marugame last year (2011). I was often asked what "Hawaii" means, since it is not a word I am familiar with. A dictionary search reveals that "hiawai" means "between the eaves" or "the narrow space between houses.

I have been returning to my hometown Marugame once a year for nearly 30 years to hold an exhibition there. Each time I return, I find that the shopping district has become more and more deserted, and there are fewer and fewer people. When I walked around as a child, I could only see the front sides of houses and stores, but when I see them torn down or turned into parking lots, it breaks my heart. I feel as if something important is being lost, something that cannot be simply attributed to the changing times.
As the buildings on the front side of the building have disappeared, the warehouses in the back, which I could not see when I was a child, have come into view. These warehouses and storehouses have not been restored and are about to disappear as well.

As I was walking along the narrow alleys between these buildings, which are barely wide enough for one person to pass through, I suddenly thought of the theme of this exhibition, “Hiawai". I couldn't help but smile when I saw that the alley was dark because the alley was laid out to conduct business at the back of this warehouse and was decorated with beanbags like those on a Christmas tree.
In reality, the site is a dark place, but in the work I did the opposite, brightening it up and creating a form that also deconstructed the storehouses on both sides. This is last year's “Hawaii".

My motivation for painting this work was not so deep, as I simply began to be interested in the subject matter, as usual. It was not until last year, after I returned from the Marugame exhibition, that the theme of this “Hiawai" began to swell. It was when I saw the night view of the New York City skyscrapers on TV, which are said to be the best in the world, that I suddenly realized that this was also a “Hiawai”.

As the camera angle swiveled around, I saw dreamlike images of gorgeous illumination, a huge number of car lights on the streets between towering buildings, and poppy-grain-like human beings buzzing about....
Yes, we all live in the Hiawai, whether in the countryside or in the sophisticated metropolis. This theme's meaning was thus broadened, and I decided to depict the urban "Hiawai" in my next work.

I secretly wondered if these two works could be a "pair": an earthy, yet somehow warm country "Hiawai" and a simple "Hiawai" in a big city that only pursues functionality. I decided to create a work for the 2012 Marugame exhibition invitation, "Hiawai" ll, also a 30F (91.0 x 72.7 cm) oil painting, on the theme of the "Hiawai" of the metropolis.

If you think about it, all of mankind lives in the "Hiawai" of the earth. I like rural areas better because they have a warmer atmosphere.

Seki Masakazu

1933 Born in Marugame City, Kagawa Prefecture
1948 Received the Kagawa Prefectural Exhibition Encouragement Award
1950 Selected for the Behavioral Art Exhibition
1952 Selected for Free Art Exhibition
1954 Moved to Tokyo and studied under Chozaburo Inoue
1957 Become a member of the Free Art Association
1968 Free Art Exhibition Free Art Award
1969 Exhibited at Contemporary Art Selection Exhibition (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
1982 Received the Tokyo Exhibition Award
1985 Became a judge for the Kagawa Prefectural Exhibition
Collection of works at Kagawa Prefecture Culture Hall
1986 Stay in France, Italy, Spain, England
1992 Solo exhibition at Kagawa Prefectural Cultural Center
1994 Solo exhibition at Marugame City Museum
2001 Solo exhibition at Galerie Lichtblick, staying in Germany, Holland, and Czech Republic
2016 Solo exhibition at Marugame City Museum
2020 passed away

Since 1982, many solo exhibitions at Art Gallery Tanaka, and since 1996, many solo and group exhibitions at Artland Gallery succeeded Art Gallery Tanaka.