Q-1. When did you decide that you would become an artists? What is your first memory related to art, to that feeling?
A. As a kid, drawing came naturally to me and I was praised for it, but there were other kids who were better, and I didn’t love drawing in particular. I preferred to play with my pet cat and the neighborhood sheep, or to read. I never thought, I want to be an artist, I will become an artist, but other people started to call me an “artist” at some point.
Q-2. You consumed a lot of American culture in your childhood. What were your favorite artists/singers/popular culture figures?
A. When I was little I liked Connie Francis, the Beatles, and the Stones. In my teens, I loved Neil Young, who I still love today.
Q-3. You were a lonely kid back in Hirosaki, how does this sense of solitude in fluence your art?
A. It nurtured my ability to listen to the voice inside of me.
Q-4. Do you need to be all by yourself to create?
A. Yes, I do.
Q-5. In 2000 you decided to go back to Japan from Germany, and live there. Why? Did you need to stay reconnect with your roots?
A. My studio’s building was scheduled to be torn down, and I was too lazy to find a new studio. Also, my first solo exhibition in a Japanese museum was set for the following year, so I thought it would be easier to work in Japan.
Q-6. In 1991 you painted "The Girl with the Knife in Her Hand". Do you remember why did you decide to combine a candid young girl with a white weapon?
A. I can’t explain in words, as there were many complex factors. But the painting itself was born naturally.
Q-7. You paint a lot of young girls, but you also have focused in girls during your travels, and show them on your photographic series. Why girls are so important in your work?
A. I feel like it may be the girl’s sensibility inside of me that makes it that way.
Q-8. Even without pretending it, do you think that your work could be considered feminist? You show girls with power –vampire girls, knife girls–, girls that defend theirselves, not helpless girls.
A. I don’t know, but if you look at my work psychologically, that might be the case.
Q-9. Do you think that today your art has become more political that in your beginnings? Why?
A. I think I have been anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian since my teens. I think that the things I create have a political/social side to them, and also a side that returns to the individual. My work is made up of both of these aspects.
Q-10. After Fukushima disaster, you stopped creating, you said that you discovered that . What made you keep the faith in art and its power?
A. Compared to the 90s when I was creating nonstop, I cannot work at that pace even now. As I get older, the more defeat I feel towards the thing that is called art, and the financial workings that surround it. I believe that what I am pursuing is separate from art, and it’s an idea of “being free.”
Q-11. What do you feel when you see that your paintings are used as a symbol in antinuclear protests?
A. I’ve been antinuclear since the 80s, so I don’t think anything of it in particular (in the sense that I think it’s good).
Q-12. Do you think that a world without war and nukes is possible?
A. Realistically I think it may be impossible, but I think it’s still important for everyone to believe it can be done, and work towards it.
Q-13. In Phaidon's book it says that in your recent travels you have visited refugee camps in Jordan. In a global world, does it have sense that there are still refugees?
A. No, it does not make sense.
Q-14. Is it important for an artist to be connected with the issues of his time, such as migration or climate change crisis?
A. Not necessarily as an artist; I think everybody as human beings needs to be connected. Artists are included in that.
Q-15. You usually make drawings in used papers. Is that a statement for you, a way of making art more sustainable?
A. No, it’s a vestige from my childhood when I drew on used paper.
Q-16. Like Matisse or Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida, you live in the country, and you even share your vision of nature in N's Yard. Why have you decided to live like this?
A. It’s because I don’t like large cities like Tokyo. I want to live more in the country now. I’ve recently begun to realize that rather than being categorized as a painter or an artist, or living as an artist, my ideal is to live in a small community and coexist with everyone as a member of that community.
Q-17. The pottery you created in Shigaraki, but also your paintings inspired by the Edo period, are connected with Japanese tradition. For you, is it necessary to know tradition to break its rules and create your own language?
A. I don’t think so. This isn’t limited to traditions, but I think it’s important to learn about something when one becomes interested in it.
Q-18. Why did you need to start taking photographs? They are completely different of your paintings.
A. I’ve been taking photographs since I was a child. It’s like listening to music. By the time I was in my early teens, I began to consciously take spontaneous photographs, but I was past the age of 20 when I started purposefully making paintings.
Q-19. What parts of the world do you want to discover and document with your camera in the future?
A. I don’t have any plans, but I think that the world starts right at my feet. I don’t see myself going to the jungle or climbing to the summit of tall mountains.
Q-20. You have created a lot of covers for singles and records. What are your favorite bands, and what records have in fluenced the most the way you see the world, and your work?
A. There are so many musicians that I love, so it’s hard to choose just a few. This week, I’ve been listening the most to “I’m a Dreamer” by Josephine Foster. Also, I’ve been listening to Magnetic Fields, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Aaron Ross, and Beautiful Dudes. And Neil Young is forever in my heart.
Q-21. Do you consider yourself part of a movement, like Japenese Pop or Super flat?
A. No, I do not. I was in Germany throughout all of the 90s anyway. I think that the layers I create have nothing in common with the Superflat artists.
Q-22. Takashi Murakami has collaborated with fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton. What do you think about fashion? Are you interested in working with fashion brands?
A. I wouldn’t say that I have absolutely no interest in commercial or advertisement work, but I would hate for that to be a reason that I have less time for myself or for my friends. I’ve come to realize that I do not enjoy interacting with fashion or celebrities who can no longer be normal people.
Translation by Chisato Uno