I sense something tactile in Toya's works and I suppose it might be the result of the interplay between his works and himself as an artist. If I might attempt to encapsulate the feeling in my own words, I would like to call it "the smell of touch." I presume it is something invisible that always vibrates between him and his works, and something he is searching for in the distance, between the world and himself. The world becomes increasingly information-oriented year after year, permeating our daily lives like a flood of data. I imagine "the smell of touch" is what Toya believes, or at least, wants to believe amidst this information deluge. The reality/sense of living is more real than actual touch, more odorous than actual smell, as if one were able to resurrect some long gone memory though the sense of sight. And I personally believe that his way of life itself is a form of criticism against modern society.

In this way, Toya's methodology is to display something which has a realer, more palpable sensation than actual touch, not through sculpture (which is mainly concerned with real objects), but through paintings, which are deeply concerned with chromatic phenomenon, and through which he might maintain a distance from the world. I'm looking forward to seeing what this delicate and slightly awkward artist (in the most positive sense) will create in these three rooms of the Azumatei Project.

Takuro Ishii (sculptor)