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For more details contact
Hitori Nakayama
Tel/Fax: +60-4-890 1091  

Hitori has named his method of creating art as "Non Technical Work".

He creates works that do not depend on technique. He believes the meaning of creating art works is to find out the vision of the future. It is the continuous self-questioning whether life is worth living, which is done during the process of creating art work and presenting it.

His desire is to define the prospect of life in the future.

He stated that the value of art is in the creation of new and different interpretations of nature and thought.

In other words, art is the acceptance of differences, and if a viewer finds that it is difficult to accept an artwork, it is this particular work that serves to open one's mind.

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Below: 'One Simple Stone'

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Artist seeks support to realise dream

HITORI Nakayama is well-travelled, to some 80 countries at the last count and mostly in the name of art.

He could have picked any of those countries to embark on his latest endeavour of a "sculpture island" but he has decided to pay tribute to the Pearl of the Orient, a place he has called home for 17 years.

This is the place where he and his Ikebana artist-wife Machiko have chosen to bring up their daughter Rena who was 13 years old then.

Penang is a good place, small but very cosmopolitan, a future centre of the world, he said.

"The cultural mix of three main races living together is not found in other countries. It has a big language base and tremendous international link potential, given its unique population mix and wide contacts with the Muslim world."

Nakayama: "My collective art celebrates the coming together of people and their ideas."

His hope now is to secure enough support to realise his dream of turning Penang into a "sculpture island" where the island serves as one giant canvas on which leading artists of the world collectively place their ideas to create one whole, unique piece of artwork.

This concept of collective art is not Nakayama's original idea but has its roots going back over 500 years in the Japanese tradition of renga (chained) poem, whereby poets get together for an absorbing exercise in lyrical writing.

They would each spontaneously compose a short poem in sequence, one to supplement the previous. And the result is an entire poem of many contributors.

The last collective art effort by Nakayama had brought together 30 international artists for a full day of renga painting - a jamming session of sort for the visual art.

He put them in groups of six. Each of the six artists started a painting and the other five took turns to add on to the one painting.

During the exercise, the canvas on which they painted was the only communication; there was no talking between the artists. And the result was unique 30 joint work-of-art pieces.

"The artist is a lonely soul, dedicated to working by himself over extended period. My collective art celebrates the coming together of people and their ideas, he said.

"The artists involved in my collective project told me that the experience had intensified their creative energy."

With international artists agreeing to landscape Penang, Nakayama plans to garner support, financial or otherwise, for his Penang Sculpture Island Project.

He said the artists would be of international standing who normally command substantial fees for their work.

They would not be paid any fee but funds were still required for their air tickets, one-month lodging and food here, and art material cost.

"We are looking for volunteers who can act as foster family to the artists and be their dinner host, or weekend host to take the artists around," Nakayama said.

For more details contact Hitori Nakayama
Tel/Fax: +60-4-890 1091.