Motoko Sato ⁄ 佐藤素子
Profile
For Motoko Sato, whose father was the botanical artist Hiroki Sato, nature has always been about plants since she was a child. From the age of 12, she learned painting from a sculptor, during which time she encountered the work of Alberto Giacometti, which awakened her deep interest in fine art. After graduating from Musashino Art University, she worked as an art teacher for 38 years. She specialized not only in teaching art in general but also in nurturing sensitivity through creative instruction in traditional Japanese crafts. Having cared for her parents in their final days for 14 years, she felt close to life and death here too.
Staring at the chasm between life and death, she chose photography as a means of expression to roam the fields and mountains, fearing that she would be shut up in solitude again after the death of her parents. Memento Mori, for her, is a living hope, a quiet and gentle peace. She is on the way to her pilgrimage. The Shikoku pilgrimage is a rare circular type of pilgrimage, a never-ending journey. Her life may have been a pilgrimage from the beginning.
Achievements in 2021
・2022 Poshchad Mira Museum Center (Krasnoyarsk, Russia)
・2022 KYOTO GRAPHIE internationall photography festival (Kyoto, Japan)
・2021 The Prestigious National Museum (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia)
・2020 Erarta Museum (St.Petersburg, Russia)
・2020 The BID/ArtSpace (Pesaro, Italy)
植物画家の佐藤廣喜を父に持つ佐藤素子にとって、幼い頃から自然とは常に植物であった。
12歳から彫刻家から絵を学び、その間にアルベルト・ジャコメッティの作品に出会い、純粋芸術への深い関心を呼び起こした。武蔵野美術大学卒業後、美術教師として38年間、美術全般の指導のほか、日本の伝統工芸品の制作指導を通じて感性を養うことを専門とする。両親の最期を14年間介護し続けた彼女はここでも生と死とを身近に感じていた。
生と死の狭間を見つめていた彼女は、両親の死後再び孤独に閉じこもることを恐れて、野山を歩き回るために写真を表現手段として選んだ。メメント・モリ、それは彼女にとっては生きる希望であり、静かで穏やかな平和である。今、彼女は巡礼の途中である。四国巡礼は珍しい循環型の巡礼で、終わりのない旅である。彼女の人生は初めから巡礼の旅だったのかもしれない。
Projects
She felt so close to loneliness and death. That is her potential motivation for her to continue praying for peace and constantly creating alone. As a child, she lived in a traditional house made of clay, wood, and paper. Living barefoot and eating with tableware of various materials against her lips, the traditional way of life sharpened her sense of touch.
Her monochrome works are tactile with an expression reminiscent of copperplate engravings, and color works shape their space with more musical rather than literary expression. Space, existence, and relationships in her works, lead us in the direction of quiet and peaceful peace.
For her, trying to know the object is to know herself. Not only does she read objects deeply, but she also spends time conversing with them to bring them peace of mind. Her works chronicle these processes.
彼女は子供の頃から人を恐れ孤独と死とを身近に感じていた。それは彼女が平和を祈り続け常に独りで創造し続けることの潜在的な動機である。彼女は子供の頃、伝統的な土と木と紙でできていた家に住んでいた。素足で生活し、様々な材質の食器を唇に当てて食事をする伝統的な生活は彼女の触覚を鋭敏にしていた。
モノクロ作品は銅版画を思わせるような表現で、触覚的であり、カラーの作品は文学的であるより音楽的な表現でその空間を形成している。作品の中の空間、存在、関係性、それらが我々を静かで穏やかな平和の方向へと導いている。
彼女にとって、相手を知ろうとすることは自分自身を知ることである。彼女は相手を深く読み取るだけでなく、その先に安らぎをもたらそうと時間をかけて相手と対話をする。その作品はその過程を記録したものである。
The Inward and Outward Gazes (2023)
The window appears as a boundary between the inside and the outside or between me and others, but it is also a place where the two worlds of inside and outside meet. I feel that the outer universe and the inner self resonate with each other, reflecting each other.
窓は内と外、あるいは私と他者との境界のように見えますが、内と外との二つの世界が出会う場所でもあります。外にある宇宙、内にある自分自身が互いに共鳴し合い、映し出し合っているのを感じます。
Cyanotype
・Media size: 356x279mm(14x11in), Image size: 330x254mm(13x10inch)
・Edition:1
・Media: Silk Organdy and Silk Crepe de Chine
・Number of worksː 6 (As of 2023)
・Project progressː Ongoing
Wet Cyano Lumen Print
・Media size: 203x254mm(8x10in), Image size: 203x254mm(8x10inch)
・Edition:1
・Media: ILFORD Ilfobrom FB
・Number of worksː 6 (As of 2023)
・Project progressː Ongoing
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The Window; the Inward and Outward Gazes 2023_Motoko Sato_EG
The Faint Forest（2022- ）
Without using perspective, she creates spaces with gentle echoes of color, inviting the viewer into this nameless forest. You will surrender yourself to the sound, abandon your name, and experience that you are part of nature.
彼女は遠近法を用いず、穏やかな色彩の響きによって空間を作り出し見るものをこの名前のない森に誘い入れる。その響きに身を委ね、自らも名前を捨て去り自然の一部であることを体験する。
・Media size: 890x432mm(35x17in), Image size: 700x394mm(27x15inch)
・Media size: 483x329mm(19x13in), Image size: 406x229mm(16x9in)
・Edition:10
・Media: ILFORD GALERIE Cotton Artist Textured
・Number of worksː 12 (As of 2022)
・Project progressː Ongoing
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The Faint Forest_Kyoto & Tokyo_Motoko Sato_2022_EG
In the Emptiness (2021- )
The artist acquired an 8x10 pinhole camera and visited the places she used to visit as a child, going back and forth between everyday life and memories. The past and present seemed to overlap in the soft space having neither focus nor distorted image, which seemed to transcend time.
8×10のピンホールカメラを手に入れた作家は子供の頃訪れていた場所に通い、日常と思い出の間を行き来していた。柔らかで焦点も歪みもない画像に過去と現在が重なって写っているように感じ、それは時を超えていくように思えた。
・Media Size: 594x420mm(23x16.5in), Image Size: 450x360mm(17.7x14.1in)
・Media: ILFORD GALERIE Cotton Artist Textured
・Media Size: 1100x1570mm(43.3x62in) Image Size: 1100x870mm(43.3x34.2in)
・Media: EPSON PX/MC Premium Matte Paper
・Edition: 10
・Number of works: 12 (As of 2022)
・Project progress: Ongoing (2021- )
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In the emptiness 2021_Motoko Sato_EG
Dialogue Avec L'invisible (2017- )
With her characteristic tactile black-and-white contrasts, she seems to contrast life and death, existence and space, and motion and stillness.
However, her real aim is not the contrasts themselves, but they build the world with each other. In this sense, the composition is also very Japanese.
彼女はその特徴的で触覚的な白黒のコントラストで、生と死、物質と空間、動と静を対比させているようだ。しかし実際の彼女のねらいはコントラストそのものではなく、それらが互いに世界を構築し合うことにある。そういう意味で、その構図は非常に日本的であるといえる。
・ Media size: 594x420mm(23x17in), Image size: 500x281mm(20x11in)
・ Media size: 483x329mm(19x13in), Image size: 406x229mm(16x9in)
・ Edition:10
・ Media: Japanese Traditional Handmade Paper "BIZAN"
・ Number of worksː 34 (As of 2022)
・ Project progressː Ongoing
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Motoko Sato at STRIPED HOUSE GALLERY in November 2020
La resonancia (2019- )
Her work is more musical than literary. In the same way that a chord that sounds like a single note is actually made up of many overlapping sounds, various colors and meanings overlap in what appear to be simple objects to create a rich expression.
彼女の作品は文学的であるより音楽的である。一つの音に聞こえる和音が実はいくつもの音が重なり合っているのと同じように、単純に見えるものの中にも様々な色や意味が重なり合って豊かに表現をしている。
・Media size: 890x432mm(35x17in), Image size: 700x394mm(27x15inch)
・Media size: 483x329mm(19x13in), Image size: 406x229mm(16x9in)
・Edition:10
・Media: ILFORD GALERIE Cotton Artist Textured
・Number of worksː 32 (As of 2022)
・Project progressː Ongoing
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Inner Pilgrimage 2020 Motoko Sato EG
Nirvana flowers (2017)
She was attracted to the indigo color of cyanotypes and made various productions, as she had done with indigo dyeing in traditional crafts. When she finished these hanging scrolls of Nirvana flowers, she realized that it was a requiem for her parents.
伝統工芸で藍染めをしていた時のようにサイアノタイプの藍色に惹かれてさまざまな制作をした。この天上の花たちの掛け軸を仕上げた時、両親の鎮魂歌だったのだと気がついた。
・Media Size: 35x1400mm(13x55in), Image size: 275x855mm(11x33in)
・Edition:5
・Media: Silk (Mount on Japanese Traditional Style Hanging Scroll)
・Number of worksː6
・Project progressː Finished
01_a triptychs of hanging scrolls of padmam
02_a triptychs of hanging scrolls of manjusaka
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