| Screening Committee Member |
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Mr. Nobumichi Tosa
President of Maywa Denki |
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| [Overall Evaluation] |
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I realized this last year as well, but the DCA is really the only contest for digital "pictures" that currently exists, and I find this contest always conveys a sense of possibilities in this field. |
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| [Review of Award-winning Works] |
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Hisaaki Yamane, this year’s winner of
the Grand Prize for his work “SSFW (Spring Summer Fall Winter)”
created pieces of works using a precise carving style of modeling,
much like people a long time ago created objects one-by-one
by carving wood, and I think he has created a world using
the pieces of works as a motif, but superimposing them as
is done with woodblock printing. What I found really amazing,
though, was that he could use a single format that worked
within the computer to perform the same tasks as creating
a carving and then drawing it. Furthermore, all of his motifs
were objects, illustrations, and pictures that he created
himself, not ideas sampled from other sources, and the combination
of the motifs was extremely good. One would never tire of
looking at it. I think it is a good work full of aspects to
be discovered. “Touch sensor” by Motoo Fuse, who won the Excellence
Award for the theme of “Touching,” is simply lovely. It has
refreshing and slightly erotic aspects, and I think it would
be good piece for displaying. Relatively speaking, I think
it would be perfectly okay for the reception hall of an IT
venture company as it has a relatively contemporary sense
of aesthetics. I felt that there is a market for this type
of work.
Initially I thought “Shell,” by Jun Fujiki, who won the Excellence
Award for the theme of “Love,” had been first sketched on
a tablet, but he created the objects by modeling and then
using a special program to turn them into a 3D picture. It
appears to me that the software used probably has a function
for single-line drawing that can produce 3D pictures, but
he spent a lot of time on “drawing a picture” and “how to
draw a picture,” and I thought this made it a very interesting
work and unique among the other works in this regard. It is
interesting software, and this work suggests many possibilities
for software. This calls to mind many things, such as what
would happen if other people used this program to create pictures.
For the theme of “contend,” the Excellence Award went to Petra
Stefankova for “Hard Words.” Usually carving is restricted
to a range of sizes that a person can handle without the object
breaking, but within a computer, enormous carvings can be
created and it is okay to break them, in fact, breaking them
can be a mode of expression. I found the three-dimensional
expression of this work, which is only achievable through
CG, with a feeling of such a huge scale to be interesting.
The sense of sophistication is also a good aspect. This is
a work I would like to have an enlarged print of to display.
Shunsaku Hayashi won the Grand Prize in the Junior Section.
I also saw his artwork at the DCA last year, and while I have
seen Beat Takeshi’s TV program entitled “Anyone Could Become
Picasso,” I find his work to be very finely detailed, sketched
neatly with a ballpoint pen and colored in, with the ability
to draw the viewer in, like a mandala. I wonder if he will
go on to be a star. At first glance, he seems like a normal
youngster who would play catch, but there is something almost
mythical about him, and there is a feeling that he is using
the ballpoint pen to uncover this. I have the feeling he will
get his break as an artist in the future. I hope he will persist
in his work.
Anne Raymo’s work “GO” won the Encouragement Award, and this
is a work that lingers in one’s mind. Why does she bring sweets
into the theme of “Rivalry”? (Laughs.) Moreover, it brims
with confidence. On the T-shirt she has drawn “you can move
a mountain!” (Laughs.) Actually, I think it is the most youthful
work in the contest. When you look at her work, you think,
“Gee it’s fun to grow older!” and you have the feeling of
being invigorated. Moreover, in her comments she says: “The
old software is the greatest!” I can imagine her mouse is
probably totally black with accumulated grime, but even as
technology proceeds and machines become quicker, this is probably
not important from her point of view, because she likes to
draw using tools she is accustomed to and which are like old
friends to her. There are tools that can only be appreciated
by the hands of a master. After all, I think, every age has
its prized equipment, which have a familiar feel like a classic
car. I think this is very interesting. |
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| [Biography] |
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Maywa Denki is an art unit produced by Nobumichi Tosa.It was named after the company that his father used to run bygone days. The costume is designed as a typical working uniform of Japanese electric stores, symbolizing small/medium-sized enterprises that had once supported Japan's economy during its high-growth period.
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| http://www.maywadenki.com/ |
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Mr. Yojiro Shirakawa
Hakuhodo DY media partners
Interactive Media Division Development Department
Executive Manager
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| 【Overall Evaluation】 |
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This year’s DCA marks the ninth time the contest has been held. I have been studying everyone’s works carefully, and what I have been looking for is how well each of you has given concrete expression to the mental images you have, using the tool called the computer and the digital medium, being aware they are only tools, or the canvas and materials, which are not unique in any way, and how you make the best use of the qualities of these simple tools, and the canvas and materials.
For this year’s contest, a work that responded brilliantly to the idea above was awarded the Grand Prize. As Screening Committee Chairman Tosa expressed it in his evaluation, while giving expression to ideas in the way only a computer is able, this work has a very strong sense of a human touch. The DCA is reaching a turning point as it enters its tenth year, and the contest will become more intense in subsequent years. I have the feeling there were a lot of works suitable for this sort of turning point.
The winner of the Grand Prize in the Junior Section has won the award for the second consecutive year, and his work this year is absolutely brilliant, showing his progress from last year.
The works of everyone else have also displayed a very high level of expressiveness.
I would like to see more of the freely imaginative works of the younger artists, so I hope more and more of you will be participating in the future.
Advances in computer technology will also affect the expressiveness and imagination in the field of using computers to create pictures. I think it has been advancing in a good direction. The tools you are all using will have even higher quality and be easier to use next year. Of course, those tools which have been used in the past will also continue to produce fine works of are.
I am looking forward to next year and the subsequent years. |
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| [Biography] |
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Hakuhodo DY media partners Interactive Media Division Development Department Executive Manager Graduated from Waseda University, Law Department Extensive experience in planning and production of films, plays and television programming. Key figure in establishment of New Media Department in 1980 at one of Japan's major advertising agencies. Oversees planning and production of software for video disks, cable television, satellite broadcasts, character broadcasting (for the hearing impaired), and high-vision as well as interactive video exhibition systems; directs production and publishing of video business.
Currently involved with network-related business, including production of multimedia software systems for schools, Internet home pages and game software and also a member of Okinawa content Business support Committee.
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Kevin Meyerson
Rainbow Japan, Inc., CEO
Rainbow Partners, Inc., CEO |
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| [Overall Evaluation] |
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The DCA this year had a shift towards more standard illustration techniques as opposed to more digitally focused works in previous years.
It was interesting to find so many traditional illustrators moving into the digital domain via the plethora of tools available. I was personally a bit disappointed that more international artists did not participate this year after the growth that we have seen in international artists previous years. International artists, please participate and let your colleagues know about the DCA! We look forward to your participation. It is always fascinating to be able to judge works from all over Japan, and the world. |
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| [Biography] |
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After growing up in Detroit, Michigan, and graduation from Arizona State University, Kevin moved to Japan in 1988 to work for information magazine publisher Recruit. After a two year plus stint at the publisher he founded Rainbow Japan Inc. in 1991. Rainbow Japan has over the past 14 years grown to be Japan's most successful digital media production company producing websites, DVDs, CD-ROMs and other digital media for Japan's largest corporations. In 2000 Kevin co-founded Rainbow Partners Inc. which focuses on licensing meta data content and technology contents to consumer electronics manufacturers and software developers in the audio visual equipment market. Rainbow Partners is the exclusive Asian representative of the world's largest and most comprehensive music, movie, and game databases, All Media Guide. In 2003 and 2004, Rainbow Japan was awarded ISO9001 and ISO14001 credentials, the first time a company in this industry has been awarded this status.
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Norihiko Saito:
Director of the Board, Chief Investor Relations Officer of Toray Industries,
Inc. |
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| [Overall Evaluation] |
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I have returned to the Screening Committee after a break of three years, and see that the entries have become more diverse than before and that there are many works in which one senses a desire for self-expression. The Grand Prize went Mr. Yamane’s set of works entitled “SSFW (Spring Summer Fall Winter)” that was unanimously selected by the judges. In a set of works, the quality of each of the works by itself is judged and at the same time, their value as a series of works is judged, so it is difficult to gain a high evaluation for such works, but Mr. Yamane’s is the first set of works in the history of these awards to win the Grand Prize. The structure of display has depth, and there is a feeling of rich originality and creativity. I also felt that it has a narrative quality that never fails to attract the attention of viewers. I think it is an excellent work of art in line with the main point of these awards, which is to seek out new spheres of art that are opened up by the personal computer.
Among the works chosen for Excellence Awards for each theme, I would like to praise Mr. Fujiki’s work “Shell” for taking the challenge of attempting a new method of drawing using a single line, which we can anticipate will be developed in various forms in the future. Ms. Stefankova’s “Hard Words” is a structurally strong work, with superb balance in terms of both color and composition, and we evaluated it as a work with a high degree of perfection. In Mr. Fuse’s work “Touch Sensor,” a refreshing work of art has been created using the idea of drawing circuitry on a body. It is erotic, but does not seem risque and is refreshing. Mr. Hayashi’s “Gate to the World of Magic,” which won the Grand Prize in the Junior Section, is a mini-universe with detailed drawings crowding the space. Mr. Hayashi has won the Grand Prize in this section for two years in a row, and we will want to keep an eye on him as a “super junior” who has emerged from the Toray DCA with an active future ahead of him. |
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