： Neo definition

The theme of this work is "Uncertainty and Definition"
The central section is a piece of cordovan leather that has been treated to have the appearance of an ink painting.
The other sections are made of handmade Japanese paper.

I once ordered a quantity of cordovan leather which I intended to use to make shoes and bags.
I ordered all the pieces of leather dyed in black but on delivery I discovered that some of the leather had a completely different beautiful coloring which resembled an ink painting.

The reason that cordovan is different from other kinds of leather is that it refers only to that found in the "cord layer" part of the skin. This part is where the fibers of the front and back sides are heavily strained.
The reason why cordovan is referred to as a leather "diamond" is because of this stress which "polishes" both sides of the leather.

Cordovan is usually dyed only on one side using dye and wax and the other side is left a natural skin color.
The leather that I ordered at this time was dyed using a leather dyeing method which applied dye directly to each piece.

Leather is an aggregate of protein fibers and the cord layer is a part where the fibers are particularly dense and no part has the same size and shape.
The unique surface color of the cordovan used this time was created because the beige part of the beautifully mottled black and beige areas is so especially dense with protein that the black dye was not able to penetrate.

The leather that I had ordered had failed to be dyed in such a way that personally it seemed to me to resemble a very beautiful ink painting.
Actually, from an order of about 100 pieces there were only two that I found to be in this special state.

In order to cherish and celebrate this beautiful, miraculous discovery that could only be created by fate and not by human thought I decided to use it as an art work for a solo exhibition instead of simply turning it into a regular product.
To create a similar random, natural process for the Japanese "wash" paper, I gave only gave vague dyeing instructions and mixed four colors on one sheet of paper and then strained the paper so that the exact color pattern would only be confirmed after drying.
I created this work to celebrate the uncertainty of working with protein fibers that cannot be seen without dyeing and the color of plant fibers that can only be confirmed after drying and the definition of the natural beauty that can be found in the golden ratio of Japanese hanging scrolls.

Created: 2016
First Exhibited：Dark lands Berlin / Gallery SUGATA Kyoto
Material: Japanese paper / cordovan / acrylic
SIZE: 144.5cm（H）×37.5cm（横）×108cm（W）×1.5cm（D）