That went on for a little
while longer, until I finally reached my limit for real.
Switching from monochrome to color must mean changing
tools and techniques, too. Were you able to jump into it right away?
It’s like suddenly playing a
different instrument, so there was a bit of me being like “Huh, was it always
this hard?” but after a couple days or so I was back in the swing of things.
Once you’ve got the sense for it, it stays with you.
Is using color not difficult?
Yeah, it’s difficult. For
example, putting even just 1mm of black on yellow, the tiniest little detail,
can change everything. Combining colors can also be tough. But in terms of
breadth of expression, there are things about color that are easier. Color is
just so strong. No matter where you go with monochrome, it’s only ever going to
be black and white, so when I said I got bored with it earlier, another way of
putting it would be that I felt I’d reached the limit, that I couldn’t take it
any further.
It seems that when you were working in
monochrome, your pieces featured old magazines photographs, whereas since you
started doing color art, you’re drawing upon your own memories and experiences.
Yeah. In my black and white days there was
generally an original, a source. Usually some old magazine, half of them were clippings that struck a chord with me, taken from magazines I’d bought in Mexico and then cut and pasted together. Here, I’ll show you. This is not a
piece of artwork, but rather an idea book, a scrapbook, as they say.