I am surprised to hear that you have moved so often. Do you like to move?

No, I don’t. But I have some reasons and came to live here.
In Nagoya, I lived in the shopping quarter called Sakae. That may affect my preference to live in a place with a river and waterfowl, like Tsunashima. So is Setagaya, I feel comfortable to live in a quiet place.

Oh, you lived in Sakae. It’s a really busy town. You mixed several feelings that you got at each place that you have lived, haven’t you?

I had been yearning after the housing complex. Since I lived in a house in the shopping quarter, the surroundings are mostly bars; I did not get friends of the same age. And I was a child with only one parent, so I have yearned after the familiar. These may affect the theme of my work.

I felt a well-ordered family element for a housing complex, a sequence of the systematic dwelling, a courtyard, nuclear family, and a systematic family structure. Therefore, I thought that Sakae was unattractive.

Actually, a housing complex is not a good environment. It is a regimented living environment, so we also have a negative image now. However, the housing complex was shining at that period in time.

The image of housing complex that I got from TV program “Ultraman Taro” was my image of Tokyo when I was a child. In this image, the mother looks psychedelic and the child of a wealthy family wears a thick terrible necktie and suspenders.

I see! When I was a child, I also watched Ultraman with the same feeling. The building of a housing complex made by that time looks brave somewhere and smart. The building in which I live now is also built in that period.

I have chosen the family at the bottom. You may find relevance between my home, my life and my work. The rest is the mood at that time, upper feeling, and after that, downer feeling, a flood of technology. The systematic thing seemed to be smart to me.

I know so many interesting creator of Nagoya graduate. Please let me know the influence from Nagoya.

Rather than a town, I think that the people are interesting in Nagoya. Whenever I return to Nagoya, I found many orderless people.

I think the reason why the people of Nagoya are so attractive lies on the cultural inferiority complex being located between Tokyo and Osaka. Nagoya has the environment that can catch the stance of both Tokyo and Osaka, so every person seems to have to choose the better one from the rulebook of two cities to catch up with. Therefore, Nagoya graduate has a feeling something like an assertion.

If you are bred in Nagoya, It is very hard to tell the fun of them, because so many people looks like you around there. That may be demonstrated only when they come out of Nagoya. I am just a country person to think like this.

If I search “Imai Toonz” on the Internet, a terrible number of hits will come up, but there is no homepage of yours. If you have a plan in the Internet, please let me know.

If I surf the Internet, I see many fans support me. I appreciate it. I want to repay the kindness.

I am scheduled to run a serial comic in so-net, in according with it, I wonder if I create my homepage. But the homepage only with a diary and BBS is not at all interesting, so I wonder how I should. I also worry that I have no time with a lot of work. But supposing I do, I want to make it function as a place of representation.

Recently, communication speed is becoming fast and it is become easy to use many images and heavy contents. Don’t you think it is interesting to collaborate with visual creator to build your homepage?

Well, I actually have created my own visual works in collaboration with other creators. I think whether I will try to find someone who I collaborate with to build my homepage.

Then, invite now! Are there any conditions?

I think that the owner of an individual site cannot pay money; I want someone to help me voluntarily. It is becoming tough to work alone, so I want those who help. Yes, I can pay money.

This is the last question. You run ahead of everything. How do you want to go ahead from now on?

I wanted to draw comics and create a meaningful work with a message all the time. I want to create such a work.

Please let me know the message concretely.

My ultimate message must be “love”, “peace” or so, because it is an eternal human theme and I am also human (laugh). I want to put this message on my personality and represent attractively. I am glad if I can represent it as an entertainment, using comics and movies, etc.

Please let me know your comment on the exhibition.

I want you to immerse yourself in this space, and I want you to feel a touch of live painting. At the hall, if you get the feeling that is not transmitted by pictures, I am very happy.

TOONZ CAMP
Date: April 28th – June 10th, 2001
Open: 11:00 – 20:00 (Closed on Monday)
Place: GALLERY SPEAK FOR
Address: B-2F, 28-2 Sarugaku-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81 (0)3 5459 6385
https://www.galleryspeakfor.com