How to paint strange pictures

Some words for the Keisuke Naito art collection
Kohei Papermountain
“When the Nio Guardians of the Temple Gate Laugh Without Reason.” This is the title of one of Naito's solo exhibitions. Some 65 years ago, at the Kunugi Gallery, I bumped into a strange fellow who painted strange pictures.
In our long acquaintance I saw his eccentric and self-opinionated paintings rejected by competitions. He held solo exhibitions, attracting fans and sparking lively discussions about art. One cold morning, some 10 years after his last solo exhibition, an invitation arrived.
He’d been selected for the Japan Art Festival. From then on, Naito showed remarkable development. He was also selected for the Shell Art Award Exhibition, became widely known in Japan’s modern art scene, has been selected for many competitions including the Emba Exhibition, and has won numerous awards. And even past the age of 80, he still keeps this up, so he’s definitely a strange one.
For some reason, he flatly turned down an invitation from Mr. Masao Tsurumi to become a lecturer at Tama Art University. At that time, he had just started a pottery factory and it was just beginning to get on track. He figured he couldn’t give that up just then and was content to stick with it.
Naito’s approach to painting is thorough; conceptual art is merely a means of expression, and the subject of expression is a simple vision of how to convey to his audience what is in his heart. His travels around Buddhist sites in Nara have matured the foundations of his expression, creating a space of intense impermanence on his canvases.
Naito, are you going to keep painting?
You and I are both getting on in years, and we've done all we could.
Kohei
■ Sorry, but I cut out and changed the inconvenient bits. Keisuke Naito

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