When you’ve been painting for a long time, you end up storing a lot of your pieces in a warehouse, especially those that you’ve submitted to art competitions. I started submitting my work to the Koufukai and Nitten exhibitions when I was around 25 years old. It was a struggle just to be selected for an award, and I experienced many rejections. If I count the number of paintings I’ve done every year for the past 40 years, which is about three per year, that adds up to 120 pieces.
Deciding what to do with all of these works is a problem that every artist who submits to art competitions must face. The photo I’m showing you is from last year, when I was organizing my warehouse. I removed this piece from its wooden frame and cut it up with scissors, thinking that it was time to dispose of it. Although it took me several months to paint this picture, it was from over 20 years ago, so I felt it was unavoidable.
I also wonder what will happen to my current paintings in the future, but every year, art competition’s season is coming.
Kouji Nishifusa FineArt Blog 