║ Hiroyo Kaneko ║

© Hiroyo Kaneko, Untitled #2, from the series Sentimental Education, 2005

“I have seen this artist’s work for years and to find this flower from a rich harvest is a surprise. Many say that all essences of an artist can be seen in the maiden work. In Hiroyo’s work, the various worlds comprised in the earlier work obstructed each other to the point of being unclear. Since the essence was hard to ascertain, it was a sign of weakness. However, this weakness has evolved into a genuine strength.
My specialty is philosophy. The philosopher tries to understand the world with logic as the main weapon. The simpler the logic is, the sharper it cuts through our world and the deeper it reaches. It seems that the philosopher is a kind who pursues depth above all. This might be why depth and richness do not often coexist in philosophy–profundity often looks penniless. It is not hard to see a strength turn out to be a weakness. But to one who dreams of the philosophy, or even life, where the abandonment of a sharp logic is transformed from a weakness to a strength, this photograph appears as a vision of hope.
I strongly wish for this artist’s recent work to be widely open to the public in Japan where we have hardly heard the term “hope” for years.”

Toshio Ishii