{"id":2325,"date":"2026-07-23T15:49:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T06:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shinya-yamamoto.com\/?post_type=writings&p=2325"},"modified":"2026-10-13T18:30:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T09:30:05","slug":"mysquares-statement-iii-figureandground","status":"publish","type":"writings","link":"https:\/\/shinya-yamamoto.com\/en\/writings\/mysquares-statement-iii-figureandground\/","title":{"rendered":"My Squares \u2013 Statement III: Figure and Ground"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Throughout this series, I have been exploring \u201cthe struggle between accidents and inevitability.\u201d Yet recently, my interest has expanded beyond this pair toward the very fact that \u201cdifferent elements stand beside one another and become entangled.\u201d Depending on how color relates to color, stroke to stroke, or one thing to another, the whole gives rise to various meanings. In haiku, with its limited number of words, this has been regarded as an especially important issue and has been discussed through terms such as combination, juxtaposition, montage, or the collision of two things. It may also be compared to the way notes and rests intertwine to form music. I want to develop this musical aspect separately in another series called \u201cRhythm and Deleuze.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the time being, while still working with the square, I examine the theme of \u201cfigure and ground.\u201d In the Baconian Squares from #10 onward, by arranging and juxtaposing \u201cfigure = accidents vs. ground = inevitability,\u201d I attempted to create something that might become a metaphor for this world, where life and death stand side by side and resonate with each other. With #21 and #40, however, we see surfaces in which this oppositional structure had been disturbed, and in which \u201cwhat is figure and what is ground\u201d was no longer clear. I feel these works acquire another level of reality, moving beyond the earlier squares, in which I had established leading and supporting roles and organized the painting fictionally. In other words, behind these versions of My Squares lies the possibility of realizing a painting closer to how the world exists: \u201cThe distinction between the principal and the subordinate cannot be determined univocally; it changes according to one\u2019s point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Throughout this series, I have been exploring \u201cthe struggle between accidents and inevitability.\u201d Yet recently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"1636","sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","_lightning_design_setting":{"layout":"default"},"footnotes":""},"writingscategory":[42],"class_list":["post-2325","writings","type-writings","status-publish","hentry","writingscategory-statements","en-US"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t