What does it mean to write? Writing is a very simple task one can do with only a pen and paper. And yet, the possibilities are endless. This popular series from last year comes back with a new lineup of interviewees. To everyone who is involved in writing on a daily basis, what does it mean to write?

What does it mean to write?

Yasuhiro Suzuki【2】
SEASON2 vol.7
Yasuhiro Suzuki

A giant transparent human figure floating in the air. A zipper-shaped ship whose wake creates the illusion of the water unzipping behind it. Yasuhiro Suzuki is an artist whose projects focus on discovery and beauty, taking an everyday sight and creating a whole new appeal, and his works begin as simple illustrations. These hand-drawn charts and explanations often accompany his exhibitions. What does it mean for someone like Suzuki to write?

ProfileYasuhiro Suzuki

Born in Shizuoka in 1979, Suzuki graduated from the Department of Design at Tokyo Zokei University. He has created a number of works that offer a new and unique perspective of daily life, including Blinking Leaves, Aerial Being, and Ship of the Zipper. He works at the Musashino Art University Department of Scenography, Space and Fashion Design as an associate professor, and at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo. His art collections, including Blinks and Flutters and Neighborhood Globe, are published by Seigensha, and his picture books, including My Nyanta and Apple and Kendama, have been published by Bronze Shinsha.

Homepage
Twitter: @mabataku

Table of Contents

Reunion on a Global Scale

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Do you ever feel the need to expand on something you’ve written in the past?
Suzuki
Yeah, that happens.
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But with all these notebooks, how could you possibly find the thing you’re looking for?
Suzuki
I do actually look for things in them sometimes, but I get distracted reading all the interesting things I find along the way, and before I know it the day is gone. But I don’t think it’s a waste of time when that happens. If my job involved telling a logical story, it would be important to be able to lay out all the facts and gradually make my way toward an answer. But I’m looking to discover unexpected pathways and jump around in ways that make surprising connections.
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And using your notebooks out of order like this is the best way to do that?
Suzuki
It really is. It’s important for me to find ways to forget what I’ve written before, so dated pages really have no use for me. I’m never able to write something exactly as it pops into my head, because it’s such a different experience. But being unable to write it down exactly as I think it ends up making it more interesting. It’s important for me to transform things through the writing process, whether it’s from writing down a thought and having it turn into something else or trying to rewrite something I’ve written down before in a different way. If you’re not used to writing, that can be very hard; it takes some practice.
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I see.
Suzuki
If I draw Anpanman every day, I’ll get used to drawing him, and eventually I’ll feel comfortable trying something new with him. It’s important to draw the same picture, and write the same materials, many times over. Of course I do get sick of it, but in a good way—that familiarity lets me enjoy switching things up.
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And that’s when you create something new.
Suzuki
I talked about looking for old drawings before... usually I’ll think, “If I’m going to go through the trouble of looking through all my notebooks for it, I might as well just draw it all over again.” Since it’s impossible to draw something the exact same way twice, it’s easy to make a new discovery the second time around. And whenever I find something interesting, I’ll draw it once in one notebook and once in another. That gives me twice as many chances to come across it when I go through my notebooks.
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I see.
Suzuki
If I were working digitally, there’d be a record of whenever I last opened a file. And if I accessed a file frequently, it would stay at the top of the list in the files on my computer. I’m basically creating that same system on paper.
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When I look at the projects you’ve created and your original sketches for them I’m often struck by how relatable your perspective is. But at the same time, I feel like I’d never come to those conclusions, or noticed those things, if I hadn’t seen your work. What does that say about how you view the world?

The Sumida River Sumi-Yume Art Project

Suzuki
Some people say art should retain an element of mystery. But I think the world itself is plenty mysterious as it is. Even on a normal day, all the adults and people around me don’t bat an eye, but there’s no end to the things that can catch my attention. It’s like I’m going a hundred miles an hour and seeing the scenery fly by out the window—like I’m permanently stuck at the moment of saying, “Whoa, what was that?”
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And I’m sure it’s hard to leave something that catches your attention.
Suzuki
Yeah. I do some pretty tedious things, but it’s because I’m basically going out of my way to confirm that something doesn’t require my attention. You mentioned earlier the idea of only understanding something once you see it, and I think that’s happening because everyone wonders about these mundane things. So when people experience my art and it resonates with them, I feel like we’ve all suddenly joined some kind of reunion.
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A reunion?
Suzuki
At a reunion, people come together, reminisce, and talk about all the memories they share. Normally people are old classmates or something, but even without that, I think it’s possible to experience these reunions anywhere in the world. I see my artwork as the means for that kind of connection.
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We have these mutual understandings because we’re from the same planet, rather than the same school.
Suzuki
Yeah. Cultures and climates change by region, so not everything lines up, but what I’m doing comes a step before that point. I think it’s a very mature approach when a work expresses how an artist feels about something once they’ve gained an understanding of a particular culture and region. But me, I’m still stuck in my childhood.

(To be continued)

SEASON 2

SEASON 1

photos:eric