Seki Masakazu Reminiscence Exhibition

■ Introduction

Painter Seki Masakazu's total gastrectomy was in the fall of 2015. In March of the following year, a large-scale exhibition commemorating the Marugame City Cultural Promotion Award was awaiting him at the Marugame City Museum and Artland Gallery. The artist had to select works to be exhibited in the commemorative exhibition and prepare for a solo exhibition at the gallery, and I recall that I was anxiously awaiting that moment.

After this major event was successfully completed, I heard the artist's strong desire to hold a solo exhibition every year, as he had done in the past, and I waited for two years after that. During that time, whenever I called him from time to time, he would say, "I can't seem to get into it, even when I face the canvas". Still, I could feel his passionate desire to wait for him.

I said, "For now, let's wrap up our sponsorship. Whenever you are ready, I will hold a solo exhibition..." It seems like only yesterday that I told him this. Looking back, nothing can replace the support of so many people during the 37 years of the artist and gallery's history.

For this exhibition, we asked those who had interacted with Seki Masakazu to write their own words in remembrance of his past solo exhibitions, as well as those that he would have been able to hold had he recovered.

Artland Gallery

■ History of Artist Seki Masakazu and the Gallery

Seki Masakazu's first solo exhibition was held in 1982, when the artist was 51 years old, at the "Art Gallery Tanaka" opened by Tanaka Kyoichiro three years earlier. After that, in 1996, "Artland Gallery" took over the gallery and continued to hold his solo exhibitions every year, the last one being in 2019. The following year, on November 2, he passed away at the age of 88.

This section provides an overview of the 37-year history of the artist and the gallery, in which a day in the artist's life is spent thinking about and painting pictures on canvas, and walking with those who came to know the artist and became his fans through seeing his paintings.

The starting point of this journey was the Seki Masakazu Supporters' Association (secretariat: Art Gallery Tanaka), organized by the chairman of the association's supporters, who would accumulate a certain amount of money each month to acquire a favorite painting at the time of a solo exhibition.

The first chairman for 13 years, from 1984 to 1996, was the painter and Marugame High School graduate Okada Heihachiro. On the eve of the first day of a solo exhibition, the chairman hosted an opening party, where people enjoyed a rich time of socializing over drinks and selecting their favorite paintings. In 1993, the gallery moved to its current location and non-members began to attend the opening.

The second president for the seven years from 1997 to 2004 was Oshika Tsutomu, who was also a member. During this period, the gallery moved the timing of solo exhibitions from summer to fall and extended the duration of the exhibitions to three weeks in order to attract more people outside the supporters' association to the gallery, and in the early years of 2000, the gallery began holding special exhibition programs.

The third chairman for the six years from 2005 to 2011 was Ishimaru Hiroshi, who was asked to handle the gallery's tax affairs. During this period, the painter had more friends and acquaintances from his days at Marugame High School and new fans, and he received more invitations to take him on sketching trips around Shikoku and to the Seto Inland Sea, as well as to provide him with landscape photographs.
Perhaps it was this influence that made him realize that "Japanese nature, which he had initially assumed would be difficult to make into an oil painting, was interesting to paint." (Source: 2005, "To Make Rooted Forms").

Thereafter, he was without a patron chairman for seven years from 2012 to 2019. In 2013, he gave a talk reflecting on his own painting career, and in 2016, he had a solo exhibition hosted by Marugame City at the Marugame Municipal Museum and donated 36 of his works to the city. At the same time, a celebration party hosted by Shimakawa Shuji, a patron member, was held at the gallery. Later in 2019, although the painter was not able to attend, we were able to successfully celebrate the end of the patron's association by holding an exhibition with his past works!

　We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all those who have supported Masakazu Seki's activities in various ways.

Artland Gallery Takashi Yamashita

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.