I went to see NEIGHBORHOOD's "Incense Chamber" exhibition at Stand By in Omotesando.
The brand maintains a consistent worldview. While using ceramics as a material, it's not just a mere craft item; it retains the distinct cultural essence of NEIGHBORHOOD.
However, while looking at the artwork, I was thinking about something else. That is, I wondered if "referencing vintage" and "re-editing vintage" are similar but quite different.
There's something intensely appealing about old American trinkets, novelties, souvenirs, and quirky figurines. They're cheap, a little creepy, but strangely endearing. Despite being mass-produced, they develop a unique presence over time. I myself have always been drawn to such 20th-century items.
That's why I'm now very interested in making it out of pottery.
However, simply transferring the original object as is will ultimately result in something closer to a "well-done reproduction." Of course, there is meaning in reproduction. Changing the materials, changing the size, and placing it in an exhibition space will change how it looks.
What I'm currently experimenting with isn't simply recreating existing vintage items, but rather combining multiple memories and documents to create "vintage items that never existed."
For example, old toys, movie monsters, American trinkets, Showa-era packaging, fashion details, advertisements, signs left on the roadside, the exterior walls of buildings I once saw. I collect these fragments, examine them, take them apart, and put them back together again.
Then, something that should never have actually existed anywhere suddenly appears, as if it has always been there.
For me, pottery is a very interesting material.
Ceramics are hard, heavy, and fragile. They are everyday items, crafts, souvenirs, and even antiques. I think it's a material that has the power to absorb time. When you replace something temporary made of plastic, paper, or cloth with ceramic, that object suddenly becomes something that "lasts."
In other words, I think that turning ephemera into pottery is like forcibly giving weight and time to something that was originally meant to disappear.
After seeing this exhibition, the difference became a little clearer to me.
Will they reproduce the vintage version exactly?
Or will they use vintage memories to create a fictional past?
This isn't a matter of who's right or wrong.
This is not a quote, but a re-edit.
Not reproduction, but reconstruction.
It's not nostalgia, but pottery I've never seen before.
When you see a good exhibition, it doesn't just end with "I liked it" or "It was interesting." Rather, it helps you see what you would create yourself, and what you wouldn't want to create.
In that sense, this exhibition was a very worthwhile experience.
Viewing artwork is also a way of reflecting on one's own work.
Rather than simply reminiscing about the past, I want to gather memories of the 20th century and remake them into something different with my own hands.
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