Satoshi Sakimoto’s art must be seen to be believed. His works attempt to be as wholly detached from nature as possible, yet are still woven with an organic and profound depth of beauty. Lets get to know the mind behind this madness…

R6XX：You call your work “surnaturalism.” What does that mean to you?

Satoshi:　I have been calling my work “surnaturalism” consistently since I was 23. I use “sur” to differentiate between supernatural and surrealism. Also the name “surnaturalism” suggest its roots in surrealism. The surrealistic melting clock invented by Dali is senseless for a person who has never seen a clock. Surnaturalism includes nameless things of nuances of colors and forms. It is similar to music. Ultimate surnaturalism should be understandable even for the beings of other planets.

I think “surnaturalism” is an impersonal style which may be able to apply to other people’s works as well. Simply put, surnaturalism is abstraction. But contemporary abstract paintings lean towards idealistic materialism. Meanwhile just figurative expression is not satisfying to me. I would like to find another dimension on top of those.

Not only adoration of nature, but also Self against nature means surnaturalism. Because all creatures live fighting against nature until death. And it also will come to the nature of art.

R6XX: Do you work from reference photographs or does everything come from your own imagination?

Satoshi: Basically I work alone without any references. But it depends. Occasionally, I use visionary quotes for experimental piece like “The Mercury House.” I referred some photos from a book about astronomy for that painting. I try to work solely with my imagination. But I can’t imagine anything without paints and canvas. Colors and forms guide me as to how it should be.

R6XX: How much do you plan a painting before beginning? Do you have a pretty clear idea of what you’re painting before you start, or are they more improvised?

Satoshi: I have a very vague plan in my mind before touching paintings. Mostly I don’t prepare the previous sketches. Actually I should do so to make it efficient. But I gave up. Because the actual size of canvases and the material of paints are to evolve images. I can’t apply the previous images to the canvases. It is improvisation by trial an error.

R6XX: The more I look at your painting, the more images I see embedded in each one. Do you ever find images in your own work that you didn’t realize were there, or are all the images deliberate?

Satoshi: Yes I often find unexpected images. I deliberate all the details carefully in an ordinary perspective for balance or contrast. It is an unavoidable mechanism, as it were. Thereafter I found that the abstract mechanism also had stories or meanings like concrete symbols. Rakantelete is an understandable case. I noticed Rakantelete connoted a story of two children who are growing up under their parents.

You can see the two hourglasses which mean children in both right and left. The left child is a still baby embraced by his mother. The mother is giving love to her child by kissing. The baby’s body is filled with milk. The mother looks like a cow that has two faces. She is facing the little baby toward the past, on the other hand she also is facing the teenager boy on the right who should be an adult going through a rite of passage toward the future. His body became strong like rock. She is encouraging her teenage boy from behind him. She is stimulating her son’s hitching post between spirit and body. The shapes of the hourglass mean humans that have both sprit and body. And growth of humans mean that those two factors are becoming connected firmly. The teenage boy is stepping forward to his father. Mother is already the past for him. He will be learning the meaning of the sword from his father. His father looks like a brave Bull. I could read those after I finished the painting.

R6XX: How long does it take you to complete a painting?

Satoshi: My painting is very very slow. Sometimes I work over several years for one painting. For a small piece, like Caccouroengi, I spent about 90hours. I had to record the hours to finish for the deadline in that case. I made Caccouroengi for a Japanese rock band’s CD cover in 1997.

R6XX:I noticed quotes from Rudolph Steiner on your Myspace profile, what influence has Steiner, Theosophy, or Anthroposophy had on your work?

Satoshi: As many people know, Rudolf Steiner has inspired many various artists. Personally his philosophy was a huge motivation when I was young. At 18 years old I bought Steiner’s book for the first time. It was “ Aesthetic and Art” which was very difficult to understand at that time. Even so, his idea about colors and archetype has been especially resonating in my mind ever since. I haven’t actually read Steiner’s books for years. The Description of Anthoroposophy is like a dream that we saw in a deep sleep. It is hard to remember what I should say about Anthoroposophy. But I believe that Steiner is still important for me even if I have forgotten. I put those quotes of his on my site, because I thought his description hit the mark accurately concerning my direction.

Click here to see more of Sakamoto’s art on R6XX.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Interview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.