Your works are generally hard to express through words. Many of your works are hard to explain.

Exactly. I can’t express the beauty by words. I express it by action. I just want to find what is inside of me. The beauty doesn’t exist in particular shapes. The beauty is in what you create. I want to express how gentle I am, how strong and weak and how much evil I have inside. It’s not something you can express by words.

AK47 / AR-15 (Datails)

Why do you focus on guns?

Humans invented weapons. And humans use them. Humans are really cleaver, but at the same time, humans are cruel and foolish. And humans are greedy. As a result, many people are killed today in the world. I created those gun works to express atrocious aspects of humanity. It’s not an antiwar piece.

I like paintings and drawings, but it’s not enough for me. I want to challenge myself further to see what I can really do. So I create those works. Plus, I used to be living close to an army base when I was a kid, and weapons were there in my ordinary life. I used to play war. I wanted to have guns, but I couldn’t. So I made guns from bamboo. They were fragile, so I wanted to grow up and have sturdy guns. Those memories were what partly motivated me.

When did you start to create works made by guns?

1971 was when I made my first art work with guns. The concept was “Everyone should have a cannon.” or “I have it to save my family”.
I released it in 1972 after a big cruel incident with guns in Japan at that time. I did a performance using a big falcon. The police were trying to catch me.

That sounds dangerous.

I didn’t care. Because I didn’t do anything bad (laughs).

RPM-1200, Photo: Yoshisato Komaki

You made those works by composing each tiny part individually. Those are impossible to duplicate.

Off course it depends on the space they gave me, but basically I made those based on my feelings. So I can’t make the same works again. I don’t have any rules about creation. It depends on my inspiration. Maybe after this interview, I may change the way I work completely. It’s like piling blocks. If the earthquake hits, my works will collapse and be gone.

I’d like to talk about one of your works which looks like a city in the future. Are you saying even these works you made by “piling blocks”?

At first, I was planning to make something like a missile factory or plant. Something mechanical. I don’t know enough about cables or pipes, but I put a lot of those in there. I didn’t think about where it is. Japan or somewhere else. Someone’s basement or not. Maybe it’s outside of the earth. I don’t know whether it is attacking or defending. I just imagined all of these. Then that work was completed.

So, you don’t have a plan at first?

No, I don’t. I made it from my heart. People come to see my works. Sometimes, someone touches it and they happen to break it. They try hard to rebuild it. I know they did because It’s different from what I did. Their ways and my ways are different. Someone wants to get my design drawings, but I don’t have it. No one can duplicate it.

RPM-1200 (Datails), Photo: Yoshisato Komaki

We heard that you use junk to make your works.

I’ve been going to a factory familiar with me for 30 years, and get junk from there for free. Those metal scraps will be melted to make new metal if I don’t use them. I imagine each junk’s life and choose pieces for my work. And first of all, Metals are too expensive to buy! I like metals. They differ from stainless or aluminum, metals rust and decay as you use them. It’s like a human. I don’t like stainless. And I like the sound and smell of metals, too. It makes me excited.