For the first time in fifteen years, Nobuo Sekine has in ‘phase conceptions’. Phase conceptions are paintings of phase transformations devised by Sekine, who is regarded as the progenitor of the school of ‘Mono (things)’. Although he is known as a sculptor and environmental artist, Sekine, whose origins are in oil painting, says that painting was his destiny. For several years between 1987 and 1991, Sekine abandoned everything and became absorbed in the production of a group of paintings that we here refer to as ‘phase conceptions’. Nobuo Sekine’s thoughts and ideas are expressed very directly in these paintings, which we are pleased to present after a 15-year hiatus.

Although translation should be literally as ‘phase paintings’ or ‘phase pictures’, Sekine renders ‘phase conception’ because of the paintings’ obvious reference to a Lucio Fontana series called ‘space conception’. The series is unique in its use of ‘slashing’ to ‘destroy space’ and in doing so, to deny the absolutism of the plane. If one were to take an imaginary number to the second power, it would only amount to –1; that is to say, the space that has been cut out is negative space. This was a revolutionary concept in modern art.

However, Sekine felt uncomfortable about this negation. It might even be said that he instinctively abhorred the act of tearing, such an obvious destruction of the canvas. In retrospect, the history of modern art is a succession of destruction. The Renaissance began as a challenge to God, and art after that has pushed forward through successive denials, finally arriving at Dadaism, in which destruction itself was seen as an artistic act, and then at the present. Art gets caught up in different concepts and forgets the importance of dabbling and the joy of creation. Fontana’s works, which stand as a continuation of futurism, are imaginary numbers based solely on denial of the past. Sekine’s work is the polar opposite.

In 1968, Sekine was enveloped in cutting-edge modern art, and he produced ‘Phase – Mother Earth’ as an extension of his theory. However, the overwhelming spirit of the soil dug from the Earth completely overturned this theory, and he and his fellow artists received the baptism of the universe. They knew nothing except for the joy of becoming one with the Earth. This was the birth of the school of ‘Mono (things)’ and the environmental art that Sekine advocates.

Nobuo Sekine has sought out instances of becoming one with the rhythm of the universe, seeking not destruction but harmony. Sekine’s work does not cut – it joins. It does not divide space but rather connects it. As in Fontana’s work, there are holes, but in Sekine’s work they are not holes. They are ‘phase transformations’ that neither increase nor decrease, a theatrical production of space. One can continue digging up earth until all that remains is a membrane, and then stretch that membrane and turn it inside out. Both the inside and outside are continuous, like Klein’s bottle and the Mobius strip. This ability to freely metamorphose is what is meant by ‘phase transformation’.
Last year, Nobuo Sekine drastically cut back his time at Environment Art Studio Inc., which he founded in 1973. There are two reasons for this. One is that the concept of environmental art, which Sekine initiated in Japan and advocated for 30 years, had at long last taken root. The other reason is Sekine’s decision that as an artist, it was no good for him to die from overexerting himself as the CEO of a company. For the modern artist Sekine, a new environment was in order.

Sekine’s thoughts are now occupied trying to express something beyond concepts. He wants to revive the breath once held by Japanese and Eastern art. Eastern emotion has always been tied to nature and to the universe. Wind, water, waves... these are not so much embodiments as they are a communion with nature. It is possible to paint leaves and trees swaying in the wind without painting the wind itself.

These new works, fifteen years in the making, are full of color, which communes with the ancient scream carved into the depths of those who view it. The unique expression of a membrane on surface is kept, and new phase conceptions have emerged in these new works. Art communes with the spirit of the universe as it continues communing with the passing of time and the deepening sensibilities of mankind. This is ‘phase conceptions’.