OVALOGY

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In 1966, I took a two-year leave of absence from university and set out for Brazil aboard an immigration ship. During the journey, I witnessed an elliptical sun setting in the west off the coast of Cape Town, at the southern tip of Africa. I was deeply moved by the way the sun gradually changed its elliptical shape as it sank into the sea—a moment that remains vividly etched in my memory. Later, I encountered a variety of elliptical eggs at the Reptile Museum in Manaus, along the Amazon River. These impressions guided me toward the creation of three-dimensional forms based on ellipses.

When I presented my work at my first solo exhibition at Minami Gallery in Tokyo, I chose “OVAL” as the central theme, inspired by these formative experiences. I combined it with “LOGY,” representing logic and academic inquiry, and titled the series “OVALOGY.”

Mitsunobu Matsuo

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