Coming into contact with conceptual art opened the door to a new world
Masamichi Katayama is a world-renowned interior designer. His collection includes not only contemporary art pieces, but also furniture, CDs, books, antiques, and even nameless objects that he calls junk. "Everything I buy becomes the fuel for my creativity," says Katayama.
His encounter with Taro Nasu, a gallery owner at TARO NASU, opened the door to conceptual art in earnest, and the first piece he bought was a work by Ryan Gander.
"This work is part of a series called Loose Association. Several loosely related photographs are arranged on the wall, with plates bearing the title of the work attached next to them. In fact, the work is a framed photograph of the entire piece. Furthermore, the artist has instructed that an identical plate to the one in the photograph be displayed in the bottom right corner of the frame. It is a complex work with a multi-layered nesting structure."
It was a completely different world from any art I had ever seen before.
"Design is meaningless if it doesn't communicate its functionality and merits to others, right? But Ryan's work taught me that the meaning of things can't be understood 100% by others, and that understanding itself is meaningless. There is more than one way to look at something, and value is something that can be decided by the viewer. I was struck by the freedom and certain mysteriousness that exists in stark contrast to such design. I think I continue to buy conceptual art even now because I want to have an experience that shakes up my rigid everyday values."
Ryan Gander
