MyMicroGallery is pleased to announce “Life Scroll,” a solo exhibition by Japanese artist Kentaro Chiba, who is exhibiting in Italy for the first time. Life Scroll is a highly detailed pen drawing that unfolds across a continuous strip of paper. The work began in 1991 and has now reached a length of 19 meters. The protagonist of this narrative, which unfolds like a daily diary, is the relationship between human beings and nature. Life Scroll is composed of numerous fragments reflecting the transitory and ephemeral nature of life; at the same time, it can be considered a “stream of consciousness,” as it mirrors the depths of the unconscious and develops like a waking dream.

Its nature is closer to the collective unconscious, moving beyond subjectivity to accentuate values of visual purity. This transcendence of personal vision gives the work a timeless dimension: linguistic differences vanish, and time and space travel in sync.

Everything is observed with a meticulous eye that records every single detail, unraveling a vision that encompasses the wonders of creation: houses, animals, forests, mountains, lakes. Both man-made structures and nature breathe the same cosmic substance and share the wonder of creation. Occasionally, we encounter a line that tangles upon itself, forming surfaces composed entirely of knots. This imagery of intertwined ropes has two aspects: the first is the fraying of tangled threads as a symbol of problem-solving; the other is the magical power of the knot, which can attract, seize, and absorb evil spirits. Drawing as a daily exercise here takes on a meditative value; it presents itself as a necessary act, a creative process where the “here and now” of creation is the highest moment of expression. Wherever the scroll is opened or unrolled, Kentaro’s work appears complete and autonomous; each segment is part of the whole and, like a genome, contains the creative sequence and information of the entire ensemble.

To free the parchment from linguistic definitions and narrow classifications, Chiba voluntarily opted for automatic drawing, creating a space charged with contradictions. Notably, he consciously contrasts Western perspectival expression and specular projection (using water surfaces) with Eastern counter-perspective, isometric projection methods, and bird’s-eye views.

From the beginning, the artist has been interested in the idea of a “distant view,” which suggests the absence of a spectator. For Chiba, a distant and anonymous vision, without evidence of a viewer, suggests a kind of visual purity. Chiba believes there are two categories of subconscious expression. The first is expression achieved at the moment of creation (e.g., musical improvisation, automatism in art, the impromptu, haiku, conversation). The other—to which Life Scroll belongs—is expression formed gradually, characterized by a collective rather than personal nature. Symphonies, weaving, carving, sculpture, pointillism, Renga (collaborative poetry), long novels, and poetic languages fall into this category.

At times, one finds traces in the scroll of something that would happen much later. A typical example is a section drawn in 2000, in which towering waves seem to rise. An oval building on the shore appears deserted; the area looks like a reservoir, but also a nuclear power plant overlooking the sea. It is impossible not to recall the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that threatened the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and caused one of the worst nuclear disasters in history.

Chiba continues his meticulous daily work with a 0.05 mm pen. Occasionally, a strange passion leads him to express images in “white negative.” Indeed, there are several areas in the scroll where figures and patterns are executed with this particular technique. Logically, there should be no difference in duration between representing figures in black or white; however, creating white images with a thin black pen is a much longer process requiring greater concentration. Drawing a long, thin white line requires a year of work, whereas drawing a thin black line of the same size takes only seconds. This convoluted process accentuates the complexity and preciousness of the whole. Within the scroll, Chiba creates deep forests, springs, and tiny burrows where small creatures hide, living as if in an endless fairy tale. The scroll suggests narrativity (and thus time) over a long span of years, but beyond linguistic assertions, it can also be considered the view of an anonymous eye on a distant horizon. A time-lapse animation, composed of frames taken from each day’s drawing, shows how Life Scroll has progressed for over twenty-five years.

About the Artist
Kentaro Chiba was born in Tokyo in 1953. He earned a BA in Fine Arts from Yokohama National University, Japan (1978), and an MA in Fine Arts from Nottingham Trent University, UK. In 1998 and 1999, he studied at Central St. Martins Art College, UK, as a guest student. Kentaro Chiba has been exhibiting since 1986 and lives and works in Fujisawa, Japan.

Major Awards and Participations:

1992: Artex Tokyo (Golden Prize)
1994: Osaka Triennial (Special Prize)
1999: Liverpool Biennial, UK
2017: Artifact Gallery, New York City
2018: The Silent Witness, Onishi Gallery, New York City