KINJO
Profile
KINJO（1990年生まれ）は東京出身、沖縄にルーツを持ち、日本と関わりの深いアメリカ文化や、自身が生まれ育った都市周縁の風景を題材に、絵画、立体、パフォーマンスを発表するアーティスト。絵を描く父の影響を受け、幼い頃から絵に親しむ。父から贈られたスケートボードに描かれていた、蛇、骸骨、ナイフといった毒々しい図像や、沖縄の祖父母から届いた米軍払い下げ品、色鮮やかなアメリカのお菓子のパッケージは、現在の表現へとつながる原体験となった。作品に繰り返し現れる「暗闇に光る目」は、幼少期に抱いていた他者の視線への恐怖から生まれたモチーフである。目を描いては消し、再び描く行為を重ねることで、見る者を萎縮させる視線の輪郭は次第にぼやけ、怒りや悲しみ、やさしさなど、鑑賞者によって異なる感情を映し出す曖昧な存在へと変化していく。KINJOは、蛇や目、シリアルパッケージなど、社会や文化の中で共有される記号を、反復的に描き、消す。その過程で輪郭を薄く曖昧にし、匿名的なイメージを、愛嬌と親密さを持つ「個人的な存在」へと変容させる。制作は自身の記憶や葛藤を整理する手段であり、複層的なルーツを掘り下げる自画像的な行為でもある。
KINJO (b. 1990) was born in Tokyo and has roots in Okinawa. Working across painting, sculpture, and performance, he draws on American culture with deep ties to Japan, as well as the peripheral urban landscapes in which he was born and raised. Influenced by his father, who painted, KINJO became familiar with art from an early age. Vivid and sometimes menacing images—such as snakes, skulls, and knives painted on a skateboard his father gave him—along with U.S. military surplus goods sent by his grandparents in Okinawa and the colorful packaging of American sweets, became formative visual experiences that continue to inform his practice today. The recurring motif of “eyes glowing in the dark” emerged from a childhood fear of being watched by others. Through the repeated act of painting, erasing, and painting the eyes again, the intimidating outline of the gaze gradually becomes blurred, transforming into an ambiguous presence that can evoke different emotions depending on the viewer—anger, sadness, tenderness, and more. KINJO repeatedly paints and erases shared social and cultural symbols such as snakes, eyes, and cereal packaging. Through this process, their outlines are softened and obscured, transforming anonymous images into “personal presences” imbued with familiarity and intimacy. For KINJO, making art is also a means of organizing his own memories and inner conflicts, and a self-reflective act through which he explores his layered roots.
