MEZZOTINTS BY TORU IWAYA

By Teizo Taki

Recently I was given the opportunity to look at more than ten actual works by Toru Iwaya.

The mezzotints consisted of a series of Noh-masks and sketches of cedar trees and still life. I was personally most attracted to his Noh-masks, characterized by their sumi-like quality. One print depicted a mask floating in a stream of water, and another, a small mask peeking through the crevice in a certain space. The Noh-masks are masks that symbolize the beauty of form deriving from the ultimately sophisticated Japanese theater.

These masks are quite mysterious in that although their expressions are physically fixed, they suggest an infinite variety of expressions. This artist successfully arranged the particular form of beauty in clear and simple black, which excited my interest considerably because the effect gave the impression of matching reflections.

Who is this man that produced these works? Here is a brief outline of his background.

The mezzotinter, Toru Iwaya, has lived in Paris for the past twenty years. He was born in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, and is currently 55 years old. A graduate of Tokyo Suisan (Fisheries) University, he was a company worker for a while.

However, determined to become an artist, he taught himself the art of mezzotint and continued to pursue his studies in France where he transplanted himself at the age of 35. It was in France that he launched himself on a career as an artist. Despite the considerable number of years of being active abroad with a foothold in Paris, he is still relatively unknown in Japan. This is mainly due to the fact that only two of his past four exhibitions in the last ten years were held in Tokyo, the center of art in Japan, and therefore, he lacked the opportunity to become better known. Making his name in Japan will be left for the future.

I acquainted myself with the rough sketch of his past twenty creative years through photos of about eighty of his works.

Looking through these photos, a constant theme appeared time and again from the beginning to end. This was the Noh-mask. His Noh-mask prints in the initial periods are colored and brilliantly ornamented. But in his recent works, a shift to simplicity and profundity can be observed. Although I am incapable of predicting any forthcoming changes in his style, the concept of reflective image is at the basis of this artist's pursuit of the cultural beauty of his native land. In my opinion, this same concept should be the basis for his search into the ancient art forms of Japan, from which he can emerge to create a new and modern path. Such a course of direction would be more exciting, and a the same time, should offer greater possibilities.

On the other hand, the world of Iwaya's reflected images owes greatly to other elements, especially the illusionism of the West.

I detected in his works, not only the influence of Yozo Hamaguchi, a Japanese artist of Maniere Noire (mezzotint), but also of European artists including Rene Magritte, Ernst, Delvaux, Chirico and Klee. I could sense traces of his effort in the direction of surrealism. It was also evident that he had worked with uncommon devotion.

His works in this series are West-oriented. Clowns and sunset are the main subjects treated, and the technique employed appears to be a weaving process, from one reflective image to another. However, in my opinion, producing a straight-forward reflective image of a subject matter peculiar to the Occident, within the framework of the mezzotint method and congruent with the concept of searching the roots of Western cultural beauty, would be more effective and successful in creating another new path.
This melange of influences may appear to be contradictory.

However, modern Japanese culture is in fact characterized by such duality, the Orient and the Occident integrated. Therefore, as a Japanese, it is natural for Toru Iwaya to have this dualnature, and no one can accuse him of any contradiction.

It is not this duality itself, but rather, the manner in which the two extreme poles are integrated and brought to maturity, that counts. I realize that this is easier said than done, but because the task is difficult, it is all the more worthwhile as a life-time theme with which to wrestle.