A contemporary art exhibition, "PAPERWORKS 2002 INO", is being held at the Paper Museum, Ino Town, in Agawa-gun (province) till 6 October. The artists participating in it from home and abroad show expression in various ways using paper . The exhibition is sponsored by the Paper Museum, Ino Town as well as the Executive Committee of PAPERWORKS 2002 INO.

The exhibit artists are 14 in all; Machiko Agano (Shiga Prefecture), Suzumi Noda (Osaka), Ayako Kinoshita, Shohko Nomura & Chika Ohgi (Kyoto), Fukumi Miyata, Kayo Nomachi, Hiroko Ojima & Fusako Tsuzuki (Kochi), Juanita Fitzpatrick, Liz Jeneid, Emma Rutherford, & Katharine Nix (Australia) & Mary Rosengren (Scotland). This exhibition has been realized thanks to the previous one which Tsuzuki & Miyata held using Tosa Washi (Kochi Prefectural handmade paper) at a university in Australia last year. And this year, it has materialized for overseas artists, mainly from Australia, to exhibit over here.

Ohgi's "An Outline of Air" marks a light image that paper has. Many sheets of Gampi (Wikstroemia sikokiana French. et Sav.) paper she screened by herself are suspended in midair, with a lot of small holes open in each of them. Seen from below, it seems as if the paper cut a space out. She says that the space means an outline of the paper as well as the air at the same time. The relation between host & guest turns round instantly the work is viewed from different angles.

Agano's "Untitled" is made out of Kozo (Broussonetia kazinoki Sieb.) fibers entangled in what looks like a huge net woven out of stainless wire & gut. The work, forming a grand twist, makes viewers feel a touch of nature, like the blowing of wind, the motion of light, etc., in various manners.

"Life's Journey" by Nix represents the cycle of humanity in 5 patterns of flaxen paper. Such Chinese characters as "water", "earth", etc. and signs, like wavy lines, circles, etc., are represented in each of them. It is a unique world where the elements of the West & the East are mixed together.

Jeneid's "Book for a Journey" has the theme of a journey. It is made out of an old thesaurus, with each page painted white all over except one word. The cutout pages are placed side by side in series. Such words can be picked up as "action", "warning", "safety"..... With these words as clues, a journey begins over the paper.

Over "Our Time" by Tsuzuki, an ominous atmosphere is hanging. Overhead dark clouds are spreading, while small figures stand handcuffed at the foot of the work. It thrusts before us our actual state, our being unable to escape from any of the problems overrunning our society.

Although the PAPERWORKS, to put it simply in a word, are of "paper", some have paper itself made into art and others are formed out of paper used as material. Thus paper is really rich in expression. The themes the artists deal with range widely from nature to social problems.

Here, paper is the only common key word. This explains why the difference in the ways of thinking among the artists comes in plain view through the finder, that is, paper. With paper as a common language, the artists are trying to have a dialogue actively with viewers, to say nothing of between themselves.
 

The photo: "PAPERWORKS 2002 INO", the contemporary art exhibited by 14 artists using paper. (Paper Museum, Ino Town, in Agawa Province)