Ohnishi ─────Thank you for your comment. Please make your comment on the Gold Prize winner in the Design Category.

Yamamura ─────As Mr Arakawa explained to you, both the Preliminary Assessment and the Final Assessment were conducted in the two categories; Art Category focusing on Urushi as art and Design Category focusing on design. The Gold Prize winner, “Oval Stacked Boxes Tame” are flat stacked boxes created from bentwood. The stacked boxes are often used in ceremonial occasions such as on New Year’s Day. Even though we seldom use the stacked boxes in our everyday lives, this work can be used due to its oval shape as modern table ware. I admire his discovery. The stacked boxes, three tiered boxes, can be multi-purposely used as one tiered box or as two tiered boxes for a couple or a family or at a party. You can use these oval stacked boxes in many ways. For example, you can entertain your guests by serving broiled eel on rice in this box. You can beautifully arrange the dishes horizontally. You can also serve cakes and cookies in the box. The lid is also a beautiful oval shape and it is gently and softly polished with great care. The artist has put his consideration into his work that Urushi ware will be handed down from generation to generation for ages so that the more Urushi ware is used, the more strongly we become attached to Urushi ware. We seldom find a product like this. The artist tries to make the stacked boxes a little more enjoyable for casual use at home rather than something to use when tension runs through a meal time. The work has no patterns. It is simply coated with Urushi. When you open the lid, you will be amazed by the beautiful combination between vermillion inside and Tame-nuri color outside. It is excellent craftsmanship.

Ohnishi ─────I would like to talk about the Gold Prize winner in the Art Category. They might all be described by the one word “Art”, but art comes in various forms. I think it important reconsider the artistic territory, I would like to value what is hidden in the depth of the Urushi material and what sinks deeply into human mind. Mr Yamamura mentioned “enjoying our lives”. I also think it important that we should live our lives fully to the end. The time we get to our final moment will surely come.
The title of this work “Dialogue” represents the reflection of the artist’s emotions. The form looks like a round headed sea goblin. The artist has an intension to spiritually impress its existence to us by providing us with something profoundly mysterious and making us wonder what is inside this vague, eggplant-shaped work. He makes the most of the power of the Urushi material. My feelings towards his design are akin to something I feel in common with characters from animated movies. This is a very impressive work and his technique is truly excellent. Regarding the surface which is usually completed with the largest energy from the artist, he has created a perfect three dimensional curved surface.
You will wonder about the purpose of this piece is and the origin of its inception. The work as an object can be appreciated and it has a function that deeply satisfies your senses. Unlike the Grand Prize winner, it does not contain something fun, but it contains various images within its form. The tentacles at the bottom show the artist’s intension to create something mysterious. The harmony between its balance and solidity was highly evaluated at the assessment. Urushi itself contains mysterious depth and it embraces light and reflects light. Urushi helps its artists to create something unique and I hope such a work can be remedy for our emotional problems in the modern times.
The balance of its form is good, but I feel a little easiness and excessive lenience. The curved surface is technically well-made but I feel something vague about pursuing the solid itself. In the field of art, such works will be increasing, but I am afraid the trend will not last long. I am afraid that such works will be found boring because they can be easily expressed in the field of animated movies and computerized images. It is important to study the power existing beyond animations and to make a step further and express yourself in the form.
I am of the opinion that the Nuritate Shiage finishing Urushi, freshly coated Urushi, is the most beautiful, while the Roiro Shiage finishing, high-gloss black Urushi finishing, is quite difficult although it looks easier. For finishing such an extensive surface, you have to pay attention to the smallest detail.
Things last a certain period of time and change moment by moment. How you should relate to the things is significant because the changes carry an energetic weight. It is interesting to observe how Urushi has changed and will change as humans grow from little children to grown-ups, isn’t it?
The Negoro-nuri works might reveal unexpected changes in 100 years, 200 years or 300 years. The world renowned Negoro-nuri works have two parts, intentional and unintentional, which is an excellent point which other works do not have. The works might not show the true existence while their artists are living. The people of the present day might think that the things will not have the meaning of their existences unless they have an immediate outcome. You will understand their existence by looking at the Negoro-nuri works. The beauty of Urushi will last for hundreds of years without any relations with the artists. Urushi has the potential to play an interesting role in the fact that space always changes as time goes on. That is what the people of the world are looking for in Urushi. I hope the artists will take such expectation of the people into their works and that they will make the people feel their expectation. Then a wonderful world will grow. It might sound hard to consider, but I think it is truly significant.