The first story of an art collector. Certified Public Accountant Ichiro Fukano

Even collectors who collect a large amount of art must have had an initial step that opened their eyes to it. Certified public accountant Ichiro Fukano tells us the story of how he first came to know art and how he built his current collection.

photo: Kazuharu Igarashi / illustration: Masaki Takahashi / text: Keiko Kamijo

Fascinated by the high level of abstraction that makes you think

"I'm addicted to shopping," says Ichiro Fukano, who began collecting contemporary art in 2011. He had collected furniture and tableware, but most of it was destroyed in the earthquake. He began to question the act of collecting things and sought "spiritual wealth, not material wealth." So he began visiting art museums and galleries to see the contemporary art he had always disliked.

It was during these days that he came across the work of Yuko Mohri at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in 2012. It was a space where various everyday objects came to life like living creatures under electronic control. "It has a theatrical feel, yet is highly abstract, and its mixture of contradictory elements is what makes it so appealing. Rather than showing us a concept, it makes us think. After seeing it, I immediately purchased a piece at an exhibition that was held soon after."

Recently, his collecting method has shifted to supporting artists rather than individual works. "I've reduced the number of works I purchase and the number of artists I interact with is limited, but that has made my relationships with them deeper."

Yuko Mouri's "Shirohebi"

Artist Yuko Mohri《Shirohebi》
Yuko Mohri's Shirohebi, 2013, mixed media. When the cassette deck is turned, the sound is converted into an electrical signal, which then becomes noise and comes out of the receiver below. It was installed by the artist herself.

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