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| One Thousand and Two |
Art Feature |
A thousand cans, hand-painted by artist Two
“I’m doing this because I wanted to do it, and I don’t really mind how people categorise me, and I don’t really categorise me. Some people might categorise me as artist, designer, graphic artist, or even vandalism, I don’t really care. I just do it”.
The very talented and super determined Hiroyasu Tsuri (known locally as Two) doesn’t care what you call him, as long as his artworks inspire happy thoughts, calm feelings and all kinds of goodness.
Growing up in Yokohama, Two moved to Melbourne when he was 18 years-old. Once here, he says he wasn’t all that focussed on art. Yet. Despite his interest in art being ever-present, “I was always doing a little bit graffiti and drawing and everything”, the hesitance was more about wanting to do so many different things, “When I finished high school I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do, I mean, I had too many things I wanted to do, and I couldn’t choose”. (And not much seems to have changed; Two has about a billion ideas and is interested in lots of different genres of art).
Soon after moving to Melbourne, Two met other writers when he was painting in the city, and has since become an integral part of Melbourne’s street art community. Back then, he was invited to be part of No Comply (a skateboard art exhibition which showcases talented and influential artists, designers and illustrators from Australia, Europe and the US) and began working on “little jobs” which convinced him that sticking in Melbourne was a good idea. Also having studied Visual Art and New Media at Swinburne University, Two’s interests stretch far, far further than just painting on walls.
In May 2006 he embarked on an incredible, and ambitious, artistic mission and began individually painting one thousand used aerosol paint cans; some of which he used on other artworks, and some that were donated from friends and fellow artists Nails, Bonsai, Monkey and the Everfresh Crew. And, recently, after around 18 months, Two completed his final paintings and is (as he should be) pretty proud of them.
So why paint a thousand cans? Sadako Sakasi’s story was the inspiration. The Japanese girl was just two years-old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and she grew up healthy and strong. But at eleven years-old she was diagnosed with Leukaemia (also known then as the “atom bomb disease” as it was so often caused by radiation). She began folding a thousand paper cranes after a friend told her a Japanese myth which said that the gods grant a wish to anybody who completes the feat. Sakasi died just a year after her diagnosis.
Two didn’t paint a thousand cans in the hope of any wish being granted, “It’s kind of funny, the wish was to finish”. He did it because he thought it was a good idea, and he wanted to do it. That’s the delightful thing about Two – nothing about him seems contrived; he’s sincerely friendly, honestly passionate about his art, and everything he does seems wholly organic and natural, especially the way he paints. “When I’m painting stuff, I really think about me and the material I’m going to paint on and the medium I use, and if there’s a connection between them I feel more comfortable, but I don’t know what it is... I feel more comfortable”. This passion for painting on something with character, history, a story is one of the things that drew him to graffiti; “Walls always have some textures and stuff, and it’s really different from painting on a canvas. Like, you see what you want to paint on there... sometimes I’ll go somewhere, see a wall and think ‘That’s a really cool wall’ and I can see stuff on there”.
Some of the cans in Two’s collection were created in this almost magical way, “Sometimes if I haven’t got an idea I just sit there, in front of it and think about – or not even thinking about, just looking at it and sometimes I can see what to paint”. And the collection is quite amazing; not only because of the sheer size of the project, but because each can has its own unique, magical, and incredibly detailed image – mythical looking animals smoking, sages sitting on snails, rhinos with dice, butterflies, flowers, birds... each piece an individual, while also an integral part of the entire artwork. The project has become a kind of visual diary as well as artworks “I’m not always interested in the same things. Some months or some week I’m into a myth or a story of Japanese characters and stuff, and then I change that to my style and paint it. And some cans have a story”. Not only do the paintings on the cans have a story, so too do the cans themselves; having character and history through being used for pieces by different artists, they now are being given a new use, and a new life.
Two’s thoughts about his upcoming exhibition, and indeed all his art, are simple; he just wants his artworks to have a positive effect on viewers. “When I paint I’m hoping that when people see it if they feel happy. I dunno, it’s more calm and happy and can think about fun things... You know, like little things sometimes make your day nicer”. Little cans, a big exhibition, and a pretty giant idea.
One Thousand Cans will be shown from 27th February to 18th March at the Bus Gallery in Melbourne and then 4th April to 18th April at the Global Galley in Sydney.
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