カナモノ。それは工具であり金属である。
本来、形状をもった金属の持つ印象は固くこわばり、冷たささえも感じさせる。
無機質であるカナモノの連続が無数の繋がりを得たとき、それは螺旋を描く
遺伝子のように自由に変容し、生き生きとした動物や魚、昆虫となって動き出す。

釘やドライバー、螺子やペンチなど48種の工具が奏でるリズムは
表現される生き物によっても違って見える。
生き物が形づくる輪郭線は生命力溢れる躍動感を帯び、
その焦点を密に当てていくと、ひとつひとつは
工具の連続であることが浮かび上がる。
命と物質、生と死、まるで輪廻や栄枯盛衰の理のように相反するはずのものが
作品の中で混沌となり表現される独自の違和感こそが、Kanamono Artのメッセージである。

Kanamono Artでは、アーティストである内田喜基の表現と日本の伝統技術が結びつき、
各地の職人たちの協力により作品としての見え方や質感も併せて、より多様な姿を見せている。
カナモノから生まれる不思議な世界を楽しんでいただく上で、その技法や表現との関連性は
欠かすことのできない重要なファクターである。幾何学的ともいえる規定されたカナモノを
モチーフにすることで、日本の誇る職人たちの確かな技術とこだわりが見出せるとともに、
その表現は技法とともに存在していることが作品の端々に見て取れるだろう。

職人とその技術の採用には、現代では衰退の危機的状況にあり、
その素晴らしい匠の技術を一人でも多くの方に知っていただき、
さまざまな形で後世へと継承しつづけたいという内田の願いがある。
Kanamono Artを通して、より多くの人の心に
小さな気付きを生み出すことができれば幸いである。

The Word "Kanamono" of Kanamono Art.
The Word "Kanamono", which symbolizes the Kanamono Art, generally means metal or tools
made from metal in Japanese. Normally, when metal as a material is processed into some form of "Kanamono",
the finished product gives you the impression of a hard, cold and inorganic object.
However, when a countless number of such inorganic Kanamono are arranged in succession,
they begin to link together like a series of chains.
The chains eventually link up, come together and begin to transform freely,
as if they were a double helical chain of genes, the original element of living things.
The chained Kanamono gather, create shapes and eventually transform into living creatures
like animals, fish and insects, and begin to move energetically.

The 48 kinds of tools, such as nails, screws, screwdrivers and pliers, are connected to each other
and come together to express the forms of unique creatures, as if they were playing various rhythms of life.
The living creatures that appear in Kanamono Art show the dynamism of life from their surfaces and contours.
However, when you look closely at them, you realize that what forms their contours and surfaces is
a collection of countless small metal tools made up of a series of lines.
Organic creatures and inorganic materials, life and death - things that are supposed to be in opposition
to each other - are chaotically mixed together, like the principles of reincarnation and the rise and fall of life,
to express a single work of Kanamono Art.
The unique sense of contradiction that can only be created from such chaos is
the message that Kanamono Art tries to convey in its works.

In Kanamono Art, the creative expression of an artist Yoshiki Uchida is combined with
traditional Japanese artisanal techniques through the cooperation of artisans from various regions of Japan,
leading to a diversity of visual and textural presentation as a work of Kanamono Art.
The respective techniques of these artisans and the relationship between Uchida’s expressions
and their techniques are the key factors that are indispensable
to appreciate the magical and mysterious world of life created by the inorganic Kanamono.
Kanamono has a defined geometrical shape. Through Kanamono used as a motif,
you can see the solid technique and detailed perfection of Japan's outstanding artisans,
and you can also see from every part of the work that these expressions can be materialized
only through the mastery of the artisans' techniques.

The reason behind the adoption of artisans and their techniques as a means of expressing
the world of the Kanamono Art is that these excellent traditional crafts are in decline
and the succession of artisanal skills is in danger.
Uchida's aim through the Kanamono Art is to make as many people as possible aware of the wonderful skills
of these artisans being in danger of extinction, and to inherit them on to future generations
in various ways besides their original approach.
It would be a great pleasure if the Kanamono Art could create a chain of chances
to know and to take any action for this situation.

Artist
内田 喜基 /
YOSHIKI UCHIDA

父親の会社が建築用の金物屋だったためカナモノに触れることが多かった幼年時代。
義務教育の勉強がまるでダメで参考書のかわりに動物や昆虫の図鑑ばかり見ていた少年時代。
みんなが受験勉強で必死になっている時に川でどじょうや昆虫など採っていた青年時代。
このKanamono ArtというLife workは、
大人になってグラフィックデザイナーになりクライアントワークに追われる中、
自分自身の中に根幹にあったピュアな気持ちを
具現化したいという想いから生まれたモノである。

D&AD (英) / OneShowDesign (米) / LONDON
INTERNATIONAL AWARDS /
Red dot design award (独)
/ NYADC賞 / Good design賞 など。

During my childhood, my father's company was a supplier of metal hardware for construction industry,
so I was always familiar with kinds of Kanamono (metal objects).
During my boyhood, I was somehow bad at studying at school, even though it's our compulsory education.
Instead of studying with textbooks and reference books,
I always looked at illustrated books of animals and insects as "my textbook".
During my younger days, I was often out for catching loaches and insects in the river,
while everyone around me was studying hard for university entrance exams.
Now I am an adult, a graphic designer, and spend my days with all kinds of client work.
While facing my busy days, this life work called Kanamono Art was born out of my desire
to embody the pure feelings that I have carried with me through childhood, boyhood, and younger days
and until now as the basis of my own.