Artist Statement I have an interest in the relation between the act of humans making objects (considering my own production activity of art, as an example), and the nature, history and culture of a place, and I have engaged in production in many places in the Tohoku, Kanto and other regions in Japan, particularly incorporating local nature, or the history of a city, and I have presented one way of portraying such relations and connections in my artworks. In the process of production, I first research and find subjects and raw materials, with which I can have a relationship. I consider that raw materials contain history and time, and they are one plastic language. For this reason, in my production, in addition to more conventional painting materials, such as oil paints, chalk ground, washi (Japanese paper) , or glue, I also freely use old washi (Japanese paper) products made more than 100 years ago or raw materials that originate in the selected subject, such as soil, grass or dust. With regard to techniques, after considering a psychological sense of distance with the subject, its effect, and the history of the technique, I develop a technique that is the most suitable for the relation between the subject and the artist, or select a technique from those at my disposal, painting, print, or washi (Japanese paper) art and then create a work. I have a relation with the subject and carry out production, through which I recognize the subject, and deepen my feeling and thinking. Then, from this new state of being I create once again, and during this process I find the essence of the work is refined and purified. Then I discover values that I believe can only be born through such a chain of process, and visualize them. After considering the relation with the history and nature of the subject place, finally the work is often displayed as pictures or as an installation including pictures. Because of this, I think my works will not only portray materialistic matters, but also bring a deeper experience to the viewer as they deeply read their background.In my opinion, through the production of art, its most important role is to find the beauty and concepts unique to that location, which have often not yet been recognized, or to rediscover and present them to thewider world. As an artist, my aim is to confront a subject, with as much honesty as possible, and create my work, and discover and present something unique through this process. TAKIZAWA　Tetsuya