Artist Interview -Daisuke Matsumoto- Part 2

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This is the second part of our interview with contemporary photographer Daisuke Matsumoto, focusing on his all-new exhibition that opens on July 27th. The content of the interview gives us a glimpse into the core of his work, which is also quite edgy!　

DAISUKE MATSUMOTO solo Exhibition
【UNITED BY DISTORTION】

Period: July 27, 2021 (Tuesday) – August 2, 2021 (Monday)
Opening hours: 12:00 – 20:00　
Location: “no-ma” at Shibuya PARCO
Address: Rise Building 1F, 13-17 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Planning: TOKYO URBAN ART

-This time there are three parts: “mass vs core”, “delivery the symbol” and “sell games”.
First of all, I would like to talk about “mass vs core.” You showed us your work and statement beforehand. Are you talking about the theme of that global sports tournament?

Yes… Well, it made me angry heh

As an artist, when I was asked what kind of photographs I would take in 2021, I thought that my friends’ live music venues and restaurants were in trouble because of Corona.
I think it’s wrong for artists not to speak out about the current situation in this country. I thought that just continuing to make beautiful things is not what I should be doing.

-This is a work that was born because of this situation. From the first impression, I felt a powerful “message”.

I don’t think it’s the fault of the athletes, and I don’t want to deny the sport itself, but when I did some research, I found out that there was a tangle of interests between big corporations, and in the end, the media took the most money, and this trend became stronger after the Los Angeles Games….
The torch relay was also started by the Nazis. Naturally, the torch was transported from Greece to Berlin, but a few years later, the Nazis followed the same route in reverse and attacked Greece. I feel there is something intentional about this.

It was in the News the other day that the I●C would not take any responsibility for the contracts with the athletes…. (It is reported that they asked the athletes to agree to participate at their own risk for corona infection and health problems caused by the heat wave.) I thought it was all about money while calling it a sports festival.

This is “the tournament” that was peeked through the TV.
I’d like you to see these photos for yourself.

-I didn’t consider it to be a huge money game, but I also had the impression that the event had lost its original significance. It may have been partly because of Corona, but…

For me, it would be harder to lose the live music venues that I love because of Corona than it would be for the success or failure of the tournament, and even if the tournament doesn’t take place, it doesn’t mean that the sport itself will disappear.
But I’m sure athletes have a lot on their minds, and if I were an athlete, I would want to participate in that tournament. So I don’t want to deny it out of hand. So I decided to take pictures of sports on TV (media).

-That’s why it’s “mass vs. core”, isn’t it?

Yes, it’s a tribute to 90’s hip-hop, and is based on *ECD’s “Mass vs Core.” The media was trying to make some artists popular as J-Pop, and some underground hip-hop artists who were serious about hip-hop said, “That’s not rap!” and released this song.
I guess they also want to make fun of the big guys…lol
But Makoto Aida and others are exhibiting Tokyo Castle in cardboard at “Pavilion Tokyo 2021”. I’m glad that in this age and situation, big names are doing things like that.
Also, recently, the ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL was cancelled, and musicians and others have been talking about it on social media, and I think followers are starting to realize that it’s okay to talk about political topics.

In that sense, social networking is a very important cultural tool now. In the past, they couldn’t say anything critical because of sponsorship and other ties, but now the music market doesn’t have as much money as it used to. The same is true for art, such realizations have been made and I think our generation is aware that the world will not change unless we ” say” so.

*ECD : Rapper who organized the legendary hip-hop event “Sampin CAMP” in 1996, marking a major milestone in the scene. Died at 57.

-This exhibition is full of messages that should be said now, isn’t it?

So, when I was told about the exhibition, I thought it was the right time to do it…
If I had received this offer when I was 25 years old, I would have taken a picture of myself smashing the head of a ●●● with a baseball bat lol
But now that I’m an adult and can think about things, I think that’s why I expressed myself in this way.

-Please tell us more about “delivery the symbol”. It has a lot of radical elements, with people wearing masks of disturbing characters and holding burning Amazon and Uber cardboard boxes.

Uber and Amazon are playing an active role due to Corona, and now our lives are full of cardboard boxes.
On the other hand, that relay in the tournament never stops, does it? I thought to myself, “The city will stop, but that relay won’t stop…huh…”.
I think that the feeling of Uber or Amazon being delivered at the click of a button is similar to the feeling of a great person making things happen….

「delivery the symbol」

One more thing, first of all, the mask is based on *John Carpenter’s “They Live,” an impressive movie with a long and unnecessary fight scene lol
To put it simply, the main character, who is doing manual labor, picks up a pair of sunglasses on the street and puts them on. Then, the usual advertisements on the streets look like “consume” or “have a baby”, and the faces of politicians, newscasters, and the ruling class look like aliens. It’s a satirical film about a protagonist who realizes the truth about the world and fights against the ruling class, which is actually a privileged class that looks like aliens and has been ruling the world for a long time. Please watch it. It’s very boring lol
So I thought that the current situation is like that of “They Live”, so I put on a mask.

*John Carpenter: An American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Master of horror films. His best known works are “Halloween” and “The Thing”.

-As a B-movie lover, I’ll definitely watch it this weekend! lol
And please tell us about “sell games”. The only thing I haven’t seen is the information beforehand, but what is it about?

Is this…, can I say…?
One million yen, beautifully framed and displayed.

-Oh, my God! That’s crazy!

It is said that we are in an art bubble economy right now, and while I am familiar with the fact that my friends’ works are beginning to sell, I am also seeing the so-called resale business, where purchased works are immediately put up for auction.
Actually, one of my friends said that he sold his works because someone he trusted asked him to sell them, but they were immediately resold.

It’s no longer art, but a tool to make money. I wonder what that means for the fact that people are buying art not because they want it… but because they want to resell it.
I often get angry when I look at the private sales services on the Internet.

To add to this, it is said that the art bubble is a result of the monetary easing policy after Abenomics, which enriched the assets of the wealthy and triggered business people to start purchasing art, which was further accelerated by the change in the way money was spent by Corona situation.
Currently, art is the best-selling art in Japan’s history due to the increase in the number of people who buy it from an investment perspective, but there is also the aspect that Japan is being questioned about its low level of literacy in art among developed countries.
(There are multiple hypotheses that this is due to problems with educational theory, a bias toward technology rather than ideology in art, and a bias toward anime and manga culture.)

-This episode is representative of the negative side of art that has emerged because of the attention it has begun to receive in recent years from the investment side…

I don’t think that buying art as an investment in itself is a bad thing. Art started from religion and aristocracy, and money and art are closely related.
But still, it’s a bit “not right, huh?” Then this work raises the question, “Is this what you really want?”
So it’s a ”sell game”. By the way, the original story is the “cell game” from Dragon Ball lol

*The cell game: A game held by Cell, the strongest and worst artificial being in the manga Dragon Ball. The rule was that if you lost, the earth would be destroyed. When I was a kid, I was scared, desperate, and cried watching the anime because Cell was too strong.

-No one would think that your love of JUMP Comics is reflected here! lol
Still, I’m very excited to see how “sell game” will penetrate the world.

If it sells, I think it’s a very essential piece of art, and I would sell it for a million yen as art. It would be interesting if it sold for 100 million yen or so when it went to an auction house.
I thought it would be vulgar if I used it as the main visual, so I decided not to do that, but for example, in the Corona situation, if you refrain from doing something, you should be compensated… The essence of the problems in the world is centered on money, so I think this is the gist of it.

-Surely there are no end to Corona’s worries about money and frustrations with politics.

Money is the key to everything, it’s necessary to live, and it’s necessary wherever you go. But it is necessary but not important.
But if it is really necessary to live, you should have it when you are born.

When money is the most important thing, a lot of things become boring. But you can’t ignore it, can you? Well, I want money too, so it’s difficult.

-In the first place, this work is not a photograph, is it?

Photographic art is a culture of editions, the same as silkscreens and other forms of reproduction. When you sell your work at the primary market, you often sell it in editions, and even famous artists prepare 10 editions. But my exhibitions are always presented as one work, one edition.
Then I thought about it and realized that money is the most reproduced thing in the world. It is also a printed matter, isn’t it? That’s why I’m going to make an edition of “sell game”.

-Is there anything that you want people to feel when they see your work?

People have imagination, but if you don’t think about anything else, you’ll just be swept away…
For example, many people don’t go to elections, and even though *Kiyoshiro used to sing about nuclear power plants, I didn’t care much about it. In fact, until the Great East Japan Earthquake, I didn’t even go to elections, and I was not interested in politics. I used to think that the educated people should just do what they wanted, but that’s not enough anymore.
A lot of things changed, so-called non-political people started to move, and my favorite artists and musicians started to speak out. I realized that I really couldn’t go on like this, and that gave me a sense of crisis. I thought I should speak up and do something.
I like punk, but I don’t really like the words “minority” or “underground” in the sense of raising one’s voice. I don’t like to separate myself from the world with a stance like, “We’re in the minority!”. Because we are part of the world, and part of the times.
So, if we can make what we imagine more commonplace, the world will become a better place. It’s not just about thinking that the world is not good, but also about having the mind to wonder why, and to ask questions one by one.
So it is about imagination.
I think it’s more important to notice things for ourselves than to be told by others.
I’d be happy if my work could help people realize this.

Kiyoshiro Imawano: A Japanese rock musician, lyricist, composer, musical producer, and actor from Tokyo, Japan.

-Well, lastly, do you have any future plans?

I want to have an income to keep creating my work lol
Everyone has the desire to have a big solo exhibition at a museum like the Louvre or in Rome, and I hope that I can achieve this in the process. In order to achieve this, I have to keep creating.
I don’t have a lot of materialistic desires such as wanting a car… well, I do want a car lol
Anyway, when I have an idea for a piece I want to make, I want to have enough money so that I don’t have to worry about making it happen.

Daisuke Matsumoto / Photographer
Born and raised from Tottori in 1985.
Using a variety of themes that abound in the world, he incorporates dreamlike stories into his photographs using events sampled from the real world and commonplace images.
In 2012, he held his first solo exhibition “SEKAINOHEIWA” at ZEN FOTO GALLERY.
He also published his first photo book.
Since then, he has held solo exhibitions of “TSUMITOBATSU” and “AKARUIMIRAI” at the same gallery, and published two photo books.
Currently based in Tokyo, he has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Japan and abroad.
He has collaborated with many artists in a wide range of activities.

So, this was an interview with Daisuke Matsumoto. In the first part of the interview, I thought he might have been using an ostentatious tone, but through the explanation of the exhibition, I was able to feel the punk spirit that more conspicuously raises issues against a world that is rife with money-grubbing and commercialism that is on the verge of bursting.

What I found very attractive here is that it is not all criticism and seriousness, but rather a humorous way of raising the issue. It made me think that this is an important and necessary communication for today’s Japan, where answers tend to be forcefully established by the media and social networking sites.

Please check out this about the exhibition!
It will definitely be a place where you can throw a stone in your mind once again about the confused world where the Babylon system seems to be working on a global scale through live artworks!

TEXT : THAT IS GOOD editorial department, Koga