Goro Murayama - Generative Drawing connecting Setouchi Triennale and gallery exhibit

Murayama (M): From last January to February, I organized at Parco Museum Tokyo a group show entitled “Drawing – Plurality” with Hiraku Suzuki and Yang 02, where gallery staff of Art Front suggested the possible exhibit in their gallery in relation to my work at Setouchi Triennale. I had already participated in Setouchi 2019 to exhibit an installation in Ogijima Island. Luckily enough, this site-specific work has been renewed in current Triennale 2022 with new works in new two rooms added. Wall painting of Class 4 “Cellu-lar automaton” (discrete model calculating the interaction between a collection of cells under the recursive / regional, generating various patterns of time and space), large-scaled board painting and real shells are exhibited on the spot. The spring session of Setouchi Triennale has been finished, to start again in the beginning of August.

Ear-shell (from the sea of Ogijima Island), white univalve shell (from external sea of Kochi Prefecture)
Conus (from Thailand, Phuket Island)

M: In the gallery space of Art Front, I coordinated my works leading to what I show in Ogijima Island of Setouchi Triennale. To begin with, the origin of my creative theme is inspired with both biological theory and scientific philosophy. For instance, the geomet-rical pattern of conus has been fostered with the nature generating the patterns with the time going by. “Prochronism” proposed by Gregory Bateson is an anachronism marked by the assignment of something in the past, whose representative example is the pattern of see shell. “To live is to generate time”, I think. This is especially with the case of shell or botanical plants where the bodies of the creatures build up the structure of their entity by themselves. Such process interests me most in that these self-assembled / organized bio-logical structure is sometimes studied from mathematical viewpoint, or is connected with research of computer simulation. This motif is indispensable for me, since it synchronizes with my own vision to realize the art of time by means of visual art. On the background of concept of self-organization, I am trying to visualize the image generated with time or lively pattern of time /space.
The common factor found in both board painting and work with mother-in-pearl inlay is the creative process by means of Cellular automaton, similar pattern with above-mentioned shell, as well as of integration of traditional Japanese technique with infor-mation theory to embody a new perspective of nature.

Drawing - Coupling［grain & cellular automaton］2022
Acrylic on Japanese paper house old wood, chromium pigments

The base material of this board painting is old wood used for Tokono-ma or alcove in the traditional Japanese house. Historically, premium wood, with its beautiful grains, was abundantly applied in the architecture more frequently than now. The time for the growth of the tree is incised in the wood surface, where the trace of craftmanship of carpenters can be detected to become inspiring source of this series when I stayed in Ogijima. Then I started to search for “nice” wood material to use for my work. I pursue of combining the pattern of wood grain with the generating pattern just like that of sea shell to proliferate itself according to the lines of the grains.
In fact, it seems to me that the living objects are existent on their respective time of gen-eration. A number of creatures are enchained more or less one with another. Synchro-nism and asynchronism (varied patterns of coupling and de-coupling) coexist within natu-ral phenomena. These are the concept of my starting point, which is embodied in the board painting: pattern of shell and of grain coordinated in harmonizing way is the charac-ter or this series.

Cellular automaton: Rule 110 (human calculation)
2022 shell powder, mother-in-pearl inlay, acrylic on Japanese paper, panel, 900 x 1200 x 50mm

Cellular automaton: Rule 110 (human calculation) (detail in available light)

The work on the front wall with technique of mother-of -pearl inlay is the same as the wall painting produced for Setouchi Triennale 2022. In Ogijima, this pattern is applied on all of the walls surrounding the room in the second floor.

The species of the shell used here is abalone or ear shell. Why ear shell? It is because a fisherman once gave me this shell in Ogijima. Gofun or pigment usually used for Japanese painting composed of crushed oyster has been applied on the white area of the work. In total, both of ear shell and oyster create in gentle and naturalistic tone cellular automaton.
This specific motif is composed of system called Class4 or Wolfram which is similar to shell pattern in the nature although this rule of Class4 is simple and regional. Not cyclic nor chaotic, this pattern is ambivalent of both characteristic of cycle and chaos, generat-ing organic repetition. The work is therefore output of information theory combined with natural texture, and appears in different charm viewed in natural light.

（left) “Generative drawing[Rhizome]-YO・R・G” 2022 Acrylic on Japanese paper, panel
297 x 420 x 20mm（right) “Generative drawing[Rhizome]-YO・Y・G” 2022 Acrylic on Japanese paper, panel, 297 x 420 x 20mm

Drawings exhibited in the viewing room were created after the style of wall paintings in the ground floor in the old house of Ogijima. Systematic division rule reflected formerly in the tree or rhizome of the plants are applied in these works, generating derivative pat-terns of the drawing. It looks like the image of ivy proliferating in abandoned architecture to fill the wall surface. This work is also visualizing a kind of time where drawing patterns give birth to “drift” acquired in the course of three-month-residence of the artist in the island.

The same style of Ogijima drawing was selected as commissioned work in the banquet room of the newly renovated Hotel Okura (Drawings exhibited in the viewing room were created after the style of wall paintings in the ground floor in the old house of Ogijima. Systematic division rule reflected formerly in the tree or rhizome of the plants are applied in these works, generating derivative pat-terns of the drawing. It looks like the image of ivy proliferating in abandoned architecture to fill the wall surface. This work is also visualizing a kind of time where drawing patterns give birth to “drift” acquired in the course of three-month-residence of the artist in the island.

The same style of Ogijima drawing was selected as commissioned work in the banquet room of the newly renovated Hotel Okura. ”Generative Drawing [tree] - P, Y, G "
I am very much interested in any kind of commission to develop and elaborate my work.

“Generative drawing – for the Japanese house 2.0” Setouchi Triennale 2022 Ogijima Is-land,
Photo：KIOKU Keizo, Setouchi Triennale 2022 ©Goro Murayama

In Summer Session of Setouchi Triennale starts on August 5 through September 4, where “Generative drawing – for the Japanese house 2.0” will be re-opened. The Hamaguchi residence was built more than 90 years ago. Murayama had stayed for three weeks here to renew the in-stallation going back to the last Triennale to add two rooms of installation.
Murayama once stated that “There is specific time of this island of Ogijima. The time includes the topos of the island together with regularity of sun shine or schedule deter-mined by the two-hour-interval ferry boat. These were my inspiration source to integrate the time the architecture has witnessed more than 90 years, the time the artist himself has passed during residency, and the time plants or shells have embodied as the process of growth to visualize the respective time as life log installed in their bodies. I tried to create a place to generate the time one with the other.”
The mosaic-like patterns are the same style with the work exhibit in the gallery. We hope that you will experience in larger scale in the space itself.

“Generative drawing – for the Japanese house 2.0” Setouchi Triennale 2022 Ogijima Is-land,
Photo：KIOKU Keizo, Setouchi Triennale 2022 ©Goro Murayama