“Ah, this bath is heavenly!” Society can be harsh, but the artist sublimated the fatigue and stress into soothing paintings / Interview with Nihonga artist Haruka Ezaki

by

Interview with Nihonga artist, Haruka Ezaki. Please enjoy reading this interview by Imoko Ichinose. Interview with Nihonga artist Haruka Ezaki Learning about life from animals Thank you for taking the time for this interview today. We see a variety of animals and flowers in your paintings. Have you always felt close to them since you were a child? I have an aunt and uncle in Miyazaki, and remember playing with their Pomeranian every time we went to visit them. I think that’s how I came to love animals. I wasn’t allowed to have a pet, but I was desperate to have one, and one day I was inspired to bring … Read more

O Come sages, monsters, and me too! Welcome to the Dragon’s Palace of Reiwa (part 2) / Interview with Nihonga artist Rie Saito

by

Interview with Nihonga artist, Rie Saito. Please enjoy reading the second half of this interview by the FFD editorial team! Read Interview (part 1) here Interview with Nihonga artist Rie Saito (part 2) One day, an image of a kappa with a sushi on its head appeared in my mind You’re well known for painting yokai monsters and mermaids. Can you tell us about the story behind that? While preparing for college entrance exams, I was solely focused on my exam sketches. Exam sketches test your ability to make realistic drawings of what’s put in front of you, which was completely different from what I wanted to draw. Once I … Read more

O Come sages, monsters, and me too!Welcome to the Dragon’s Palace of Reiwa (part 1) / Interview with Nihonga artist Rie Saito

by

Interview with Nihonga artist, Rie Saito. Please enjoy reading this interview by the FFD editorial team! Read Interview (part 2) here Interview with Nihonga artist Rie Saito (part 1) I won’t listen to my teacher; I’m painting from my heart! Thank you for taking the time for this interview today. What was your first encounter with drawings? Thank you for having me. I guess my first time would have been at the age of three, tagging along with my mother, going to an art class and copying her drawing. What kinds of pictures were you drawing? I’m told that my drawings were very childlike, such as drawings of an onigiri … Read more

Drawing the heart and soul in the form of a cat / Interview with Nihonga artist Maria Mizoguchi

by

Interview with the Nihonga artist, Maria Mizoguchi. Please enjoy! Interview with Nihonga artist Maria Mizoguchi Growing up, spending countless hours making art and playing with animals What were you like as a little girl? I was a very active child, always finding places to run around in, and literally running in the nearby parks every day from morning to evening. From a young age, before going to preschool, I loved making snails out of cardboards or drawing pictures. I think I was two or three years old at the time. I’d always enjoyed having a creative outlet as a young child. Oh! You were quite busy even before preschool! When … Read more

A four-time college entry challenger finds the sparkle of a dedicated person / Interview with Nihonga artist Kazusa Anazawa

by

Interview with Nihonga artist, Kazusa Anazawa. Please enjoy reading this interview by the FFD editorial team! Interview with Nihonga artist Kazusa Anazawa Discovering the joy of drawings through Leo Lionni’s Little Blue and Little Yellow. Thank you for your time today. Can you tell me about your first encounter with drawing? I’ve been drawing pictures since my preschool days. Of course, back then I was drawing with crayons, not doing Nihonga paintings. Why did you start drawing? I’m not sure if it was something that made me start drawing, but one day, my mother bought me a picture book by Leo Lionni, titled Ao-kun to Kiiro-chan (Little Blue and Little … Read more

The Cedar tree is like a grandfather to me, it’s why I paint trees / Interview with Nihonga artist Masami Shitara (part 3)

by

Interview with Nihonga artist, Masami Shitara. Please enjoy reading part 3 of this interview by the FFD editorial team! Interview with Nihonga artist Masami Shitara (part 3) Working at the bottom of the ladder What kind of jobs did you have after you finished the charity exhibition? Once my three-year contract at the art supply store ended, I had to look for another job. I realized that as long as I could paint on my own time, I didn’t need to be too picky about my day job. I looked for a job with a lot of time off and good pay, and decided to work at the local dentist’s … Read more

The Cedar tree is like a grandfather to me, it’s why I paint trees / Interview with Nihonga artist Masami Shitara (part 2)

by

Interview with Nihonga artist, Masami Shitara. Please enjoy reading part 2 of this interview by the FFD editorial team! Interview with Nihonga artist Masami Shitara (part 2) Setback at the first solo exhibition What were you working on after moving to Tokyo? I immediately started working at an art supply store inside an art college prep school in Ikebukuro. The people working there were all aspiring artists, and more or less in the same boat as me. It was easy to make friends there, and I really enjoyed discussing art and painting with my colleagues. Soon after turning 24, I started bringing my portfolio to art galleries. Once I found … Read more

The Cedar tree is like a grandfather to me, it’s why I paint trees / Interview with Nihonga artist Masami Shitara (part 1)

by

Growing up in Yamagata, Masami was surrounded by trees, which deeply influenced her paintings. Please enjoy reading this interview by the FFD editorial team! Interview with Nihonga artist Masami Shitara (part 1) I started drawing thanks to a set of crayons and a sketchbook given to me by my grandfather Thank you for taking the time for this interview today. What got you into drawing when you were little? My grandfather gave me a set of crayons and a sketchbook for my birthday, and that was how I fell in love with drawing. What a lovely gift. What kind of drawings did you do at that early age? I used … Read more