Divertimento by Mr.Kanahyo in Nanporo Town !

by Kazu

My friend Mr. Naoyuki Kanahyo had already made up the cover for the BBQ grill and been ready for BBQ.  His daughters were helping their parents to receive my wife and me in the evening of Sunday.

Mr. Kanahyo is the artist who made up his works with metal and wood, that can be used in our daily life.

Of course, some of his works are used in his atelier with his house and cafe a.i.u.e.o run by his wife Mieko in Nanporo Town. The breads and cakes are so nice and inspire us for the fight on weekdays. I gave the Italian traditional cake "Pan Forte"made by Mrs. Kanahyo to the winner of the quiz for the month before.

To be honest, I think I should have to purchase one of his works and advertise them in public but I did not do that so far. These tables are my favorite and I will buy one of them in not-so-distanced future.

Mrs. Kanahyo kindly made up the birthday cake for her and me. I was really moved by their hospitality.
Mr. Kanahyo held his individual show for his works in some parts of Hokkaido. I have not visited his individual exhibition yet but I would like to plan his show in the near future.

The BBQ dinner in the backyard of his house was wrapped up with fire works. After we left his house, it began to rain cats and dogs and lightening hit some part of Sorachi sub-prefectural area.

Here I introduce the comment sent by one of his friends for his individual show named "Divertimento" held in past November.
Please be looking forward to the notice of his next individual show !

Divertimento

November

The season in which we feel lack of light.

Like a modest thing in the living space can be the light in our heart,

Feeling a free atmosphere without straining themselves,

Each of them sings, dances happily and pleasantly,

And does a session making a harmony

For “divertimento” by Naoyuki Kanahyo

Many objets d’art that looks so happy gets together in the atelier of Mr. Naoyuki Kanahyo in Nanporo Town. There are wooden and iron sculptures in a variety of sizes, such as objets like chair or table as well as stool-type chair with the map of France on the surface. Those are his works that compose his individual show titled “divertimento”.

But   how can we call the works created by Mr. Naoyuki Kanahyo? Of course, those are absolutely characteristic artistic works and no problem can be seen in calling them “objets”. But what confuses me is that each of his works started to whisper naturally with no care, showing their own dignity as so-called artistic works, namely showing the appearance of solid sculptures or objet but warding off airs and graces.

“I am not a sculpture nor objet. If you kindly want to use myself, it does not matter how you use, as a chair or table albeit I don’t stick to the way you chose to use.”

That makes me want to call them “mischievous and artistic toys”

I heard that it has been twenty years since Mr. Naoyuki Kanahyo started to create these kinds of objets. At first, he tried to create the sculptures that play up the characteristics of materials such as the mixture of stone, wood and wax, as well as solid figurative arts. But one day, he was asked if he could create the works that can be in use, making use of iron materials, and that is the start of devoting himself into creating these kinds of objets.         

  He creates the works making use of iron refuses. From the standpoint of view, his works can be called the objets that contain the gene of modern art such as “junk art” or “assemblage” that is called as arts made of refuses.

But I would like you to focus on his high degrees of skills with which the selection of the materials and the shape was done, the excellent structures of the objets were composed.  Because you can find his wit and esprit glaring in his works. Or, his works are filled with the happy lightness.

Besides, the title of his individual show “divertimento” is a form of music that appeared in eighteenth century. It is bright and lambent and was translated as “Kiyu-kyoku in Japanese. It is said that it was played in the events of party. This kind of music was composed by Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Peter Schubert and Bartók Béla Viktor János in modern times but the tunes composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are the most famous and popular in the world.

The music so easy and free is “divertimento”. With the feeling of lightness and the mischievousness that can be seen going between art and daily life, this title fits the objet made by Mr.Kanahyo to a T, doesn’t it ?

Getting the space for individual show, called “Craft AGERU”, the objets stopped whispering against the categorizing as art or craft, and may be starting to play the divertimento composed by Mozart and other composers as if they are enjoying “just existing here”.