Tracing the memories contained in antiques

Today, since the exhibition is currently in full daylight, I would like to write about the appeal of "antiques."

It's fun to wander around flea markets and antique shops. There are strange objects that you've never seen in a local store, and you wonder what they were used for. Well-used tools and old dishes. Many of them look like junk at first glance. If you look closely, pick them up, and run your fingers over them, the small scratches and seams will suddenly evoke a sense of the past. Antiques quietly breathe the layers of time that have piled up in them. They are not just "old things," but keys that open the door to memories.

Although they are all generally referred to as antiques, there are differences between antiques, old art, and old tools. Antiques have artistic and historical value, and have often been the subject of appreciation and collection. Old art refers to antiques that have particularly high artistic value. On the other hand, old tools are often rooted in daily life and have value in their practical use. If lacquerware and ceramics from the Edo period are antiques, paintings from the Muromachi period and Buddhist statues from the Heian period would be considered old art, and wooden furniture and everyday items from the early Showa period could be called old tools. Although the classification is rough, these are often lumped together as antiques. They are all the same in that they have been passed down through time, but the direction of the value they harbor is slightly different. I think that the barriers that separate them have become much thinner thanks to the efforts of our predecessors.

It is often said that to truly enjoy antiques, one's eyes are important. The owner of a long-established tool shop once said, "A truly good tool will have a life of its own if it is used for a long time." This may be true. Antiques, which become more appealing over time, are similar to the way people live their lives. Just as each face, with its wrinkles etched in it by the years, has its own story.

The ability to see the time and stories hidden within objects, and the ability to discern their beauty and value - that is what we call "eyes." Rather than simply looking at them, the appeal of antiques is greatly deepened when we face them while imagining what era they lived in, what kind of people used them, and how they were used.

If you think about it, antiques are layers of time. They are born in a certain era, used while passing through people's hands, eventually flowing into the market, and finally ending up in someone else's hands. The scratches and seams that appear in this process are the layers of time themselves. We take over a part of it and give it a new context.

From a folkloristic perspective, tools are not simply a pursuit of functionality, but reflect people's lifestyles and spirituality. For example, tea ceremony tools are imbued with the idea of ​​"wabi-sabi," and the more they are used, the more valuable they become. On the other hand, European silverware placed emphasis on decorativeness and formality, and was also a symbol of a family's status and tradition. From a cultural anthropological perspective, objects do not exist in isolation, but play a social role and have meaning within a community.

When you bring antiques home and arrange them in a space, they can sometimes feel out of place. This may be because the atmosphere of the environment in which they were placed is permeated into the antiques. An antique placed alone in a modern interior may feel foreign at first, but over time it will blend into the space and create a new harmony. Thinking about this combination and its compatibility with the space is also one of the joys of enjoying antiques.

Minimalism is in vogue these days, and the value of "less is more" is spreading. I understand that. However, I don't think collecting things is necessarily going against the times. It is a dialogue with the past and history, and also a search for the "beauty" inside oneself. Collecting antiques is not just about increasing the number of things you own. It is about the lifestyle of the time when the tool was created, the habits of the person who used it, and the shape that has changed over time. It is about feeling and accepting these things, and finding new meaning in them. Therein lies the fun of antiques. They are not just material desires, but an expression of interest in history and culture. ←I want to say this loudly, including as an excuse to myself! Lol

More than a dozen years ago, I bought a Meiji-era pocket watch at the Setagaya Rare Market. I think it was a junk item worth about 3,000 yen. But the silver case had intricate engravings and the inside of the glass had many small scratches. When I opened the lid, the intricate gears were quietly placed inside. The hands of that watch once kept someone's time. When it was just made in the workshop, it may have been passed on to a merchant, or it may have been taken to the battlefield. Some people gave it as a gift to their family, and others took it with them on their journeys. It was repaired every time it changed hands, and now, more than a hundred years later, this watch is here. It's not just a pocket watch, it's part of a story that has crossed the flow of time. When you think about it like that, the depth of an object suddenly expands.

In Proust's famous novel "In Search of Lost Time," the longest in the world, which is over 3,000 pages, he describes the moment when the scent of madeleines opens the door to memory. Antiques also play the role of a medium that mediates time. When you pick them up, their texture, weight, and tiny cracks gently bring back fragments of the past. They may not be personal memories, but the time that someone from a certain era touched and gazed upon them intersects here and now.

What is the appeal of antiques? This may be a question from the past. Should we just treat them as old things, or should we take the time and memories that reside in them and use them in the present? It is about cultivating your own "eye" beyond the boundaries of antiques, old tools, or old art. I think this leads to the freedom to choose, own, and appreciate things. To hold an antique in one's hands is to listen to the breath of time and memory. And at the moment when the past and the future intersect, one's existence is gently superimposed. This is what I feel at this Hakujitsu exhibition, surrounded by a large number of antiques. It is okay for each person to interpret it differently. It is because they are different that the differences are interesting. Each person will continue to hone their own ideal unique worldview and aim to perfect their style.

In that sense, I want people to feel the depth of the things that one person has collected over many years. Even when I exhibit in broad daylight, or the day after I've had too much to drink, I always go to the antique market before anyone else. This exhibition can be said to be the crystallization of the passion of one man, Koichi Nishizaka. Other attractions include his planning ability, producing ability, and spatial composition ability. With so much stuff on display, please take this opportunity to pick up a variety of items and make time to travel through time and space in your daily life. The exhibition will be on until Sunday, February 9th.

Well, I hope you have a most lovely and happy week this week.

To all of you who always come all the way to Utsushiki from far away, and to all of you who read this long blog, I send my heartfelt love to you all♡

Ever since he passed away, I've really wanted to hear Chiba's voice.

Hey punks, stop complaining and paint it all over with love