This time we spoke with SAKORABA, the artist of countless forms of self-expression.
Her exhibition with us now is a retrospective, featuring an array of drawings from 2006.
We received some very personal responses, considering the depth of the experiences she has had in the past several years.

DFG: What a tremendous amount of line art. In some places there are patterns, sometimes it seems like you can make out a greater shape—is it all overwhelmed with meaning, or is it all done at random?

SAKORABA: It’s kind of embarrassing to say out loud—it’s all inside of me. I don’t think about what I’m doing, and my pen moves completely of its own accord. I plan out nothing in advance.


DFG: No plan at all, whatsoever? Have you ever had instances where you were unsatisfied with the drawing of a single line, or felt underwhelmed by something you created?

SAKORABA: Certainly. At times like that I’ll take a break for several hours. I need time to understand why I will feel underwhelmed with my own work—and even why I like it—in order to improve.

DFG: You have been painting for years. Do you feel a particular change in yourself now compared to how you were when you first got started?

SAKORABA: It was before I started drawing in this style, but there was a period of time when drawing made me anxious. I worried myself over what kind of pictures people wanted to see and what I would be able to sell. But then I realized how much I was limiting myself through that kind of thinking.
That might have been the moment I gave up on ever becoming a professional illustrator. And now I’m free to draw without worry. When I embraced that freedom, it was like a whole new world opened up before me. And that is what ultimately has brought me here today.

DFG: You experienced a lot of different transitions before arriving at your current style. Do you plan to continue on with this kind of art in the future?

SAKORABA: Actually, I’ve started experimenting with crayons. I saw children on TV the other day, drawing lines freely in crayon. Children don’t see that as freedom. They draw green suns completely unabashedly. I want to draw as free as a child—that is my goal.

DFG: It’s true that in order to draw in a style similar to that of children, you won’t be able to continue in your current art style. Taro Okamoto said something similar to what you have said, in a book. Something to strive for as a painter.

You have been writing a bit these days, too. Is there any difference between text and pictures as means of expression?

SAKORABA: In my case, pictures are things that are dragged out from deep inside, while words are responses to outside stimuli.

DFG: So words come forth passively. Like a poison leaving the body. Are there any writers that have particularly influenced you?

SAKORABA: From the top of my head: Osamu Dazai and Ryunosuke Akutagawa. And reading short stories by Kenzaburo Oe always makes me want to write.

DFG: There are staff members here who also enjoy work by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and Osamu Dazai, and they would certainly say works by those authors suit you very much. This question seems a little ridiculous to ask, now, but do you intend to keep drawing indefinitely?

SAKORABA: Probably—I would probably keep doing it even if I grew to hate it.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

After the interview, SAKORABA smiled and confessed to nervousness.
We had found the atmosphere relaxing, but we could’ve spoken a little slower.

Visit SAKURABA’s website here!
http://home.a05.itscom.net/sekoraba/

And SAKURABA announces upcoming exhibitions here, via blog.
http://designfestagallery-diary.blogspot.jp/2013/10/sekoraba.html

Design Festa English Blog

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