Layering colors like music. Iga Kan'onobu creates harmony through his paintings [Unique Communication #7]
"Isai Tsuushin" is a column introducing artists brought to you by Marie ( @Marie_heralbony ), the Isai Evangelist. In addition to the appeal of the works produced by the artists, it is delivered in a chatty style, including wonderful stories born from the interactions between Heralbony and the artists. For all of you who "love the unusual." We will support your tomorrow with content that will help you relax and give you energy.
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Hello. I'm Marie. This is the author who will be the star of today's Isai Tsuushin. This is a photo by Kaoru Iga .
This may be a sudden question, but does Mr. Iga's face look familiar somewhere?
In fact, Iga is an unusual artist who served as the face of the brand in the key visual for 2023. 
Together with keyboardist Kan Sano, who also produced the music for the "ROUTINE RECORDS" project at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and model Chiba Yuka from Iwate, she faced the camera with a dignified presence and a relaxed expression. (The staff on-site couldn't help but get excited by her model-like appearance...!)
Iga has been learning the cello for over 20 years and played on set. Just as the cello plays a harmony of tones, Iga is a unique artist who layers colors on the canvas with his own unique sense of color. Let's take a look at the production process of Iga Gan-Otoko .
A day in the life of the unique writer, Iga Gan'o-toru.
"Are you nervous?"
When asked by the staff filming the production process, Iga answered "Yes" with a straight look in his eyes. 
However, once I started working, all that tension disappeared.
First, draw the outline using a marker and a ruler. 
Squeeze paint from the tube onto the drawn lines... 
He spreads the paint boldly using a painting knife. On this day, he is working on several pieces at the same time, including red, blue, and white pieces, and is completing them at an incredible speed. 
The way he layers the colors is almost like playing music, and he works joyfully, humming and singing rhythmically as he goes along.
The world of Iga's works, in harmony with nature.
Once the production is finished, I head to the nearby forest for my daily walk. 
Iga-san often enjoys mountain climbing. As you can see from the art used by HERALBONY, many of his works are themed around natural elements such as "leaves" and "forests." The colors he finds in nature in his daily life, such as the green of the trees and the blue of the sky, are expressed in his works.
>> Check out the products featuring Iga's art
Here we introduce one particularly striking piece that symbolizes harmony with nature and is characteristic of Iga. It is a cello sculpture created from overlapping paintings, standing in the forest. 
This work was exhibited at the Tenowa Forest Museum, held at Musashi-Kokubunji Park in October 2023. As the title "Cellist's Dream" suggests, the image of a cellist closing his eyes and becoming one with nature in the forest, playing a colorful melody, comes to mind. It feels as if Iga himself is creating his own unique melody through paintings and the cello, inspired by the sensibilities he receives from nature. It's as if we can hear the beautiful melody carried on the wind at any moment.
Sunflowers with blue petals
Iga creates his works using a variety of techniques, sometimes layering paint and sometimes using oil pastels to create works that are all different in style. 
On this day, the work began by applying oil pastels in vibrant warm colors such as red, orange, and pink to the canvas. 
Layered on top of that is a bold blue. The contrasting colors are layered on the canvas without any hesitation. 
Sometimes I used my fingers to spread the color, and here is the finished piece.
The piece ended up being a striking blue, hard to believe it started out with red and orange!
Iga's style is characterized by the unique depth created by layering different colors. If you look closely at his finished works, you can see that the warm colors he applied first peek through the gaps in the blue painted on top. The gradations and textures created by layering multiple art materials give his works a unique personality. 
Let's take a look at the sunflowers that Iga draws, which reflect this unique style. At first, the sunflowers were orange, which looked like something we'd seen somewhere before, but here's the finished work, which he created by layering more colors!
The result is a deep sunflower with vibrant orange peeking through beneath the refreshing blue.
The glove drawn by Iga is now a real thing
Iga is an artist who sometimes paints abstract paintings that combine shapes, and sometimes paints concrete paintings like the sunflowers mentioned earlier.
The traveling exhibition " Heralbony and Kesennuma Knitting, " which began last month, has launched a project to recreate an actual "glove" based on Iga's painting by hand, with the help of the hand-knitted knitwear brand Kesennuma Knitting.
Kesennuma Knitting was started after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 with the aim of creating jobs that workers can be proud of and nurturing a locally rooted industry. Based in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture, the company delivers sweaters and cardigans that have been carefully hand-knitted one by one by artisans. 
Kesennuma Knitting has meticulously recreated Iga's unique color combinations and patterns, and the flat "gloves" are designed to actually warm people's hands. These gloves were born into the world as a product. These gloves are currently on sale in limited quantities at HERALBONY GALLERY. If you would like to purchase online, please fill out the order form on the Kesennuma Knitting website .
The original artwork is available for sale online
This traveling exhibition is currently being held at HERALBONY GALLERY in Morioka. It features Iga's colorful and adorable paintings of "socks," "plants," and "kettles," and the original artworks are also available for purchase at the online store. 
These warm works will bring a smile to your face when you look at them. We hope you will find your favorite piece.
>> Click here for a list of Kaoiur Iga's original artworks
Also, here is a video of a day in the life of Iga-san, who we introduced this time. Please take a look.
Kaoru Iga
Born in Tokyo in 1988. After exhibiting at Art Brut Tachikawa in 2015, he has been exhibiting his work every year since then. Due to his autism, he has difficulty speaking, but he loves people and has no hesitation in meeting new people. He also loves music and has been learning the cello for 20 years.
Please also check out the episode of "Listening Museum" featuring Iga as a guest.
>> Listening Museum #3 is here
>See the artist's work and the creative process
Click here for products featuring this artist's art
In this photo, Iga-san shows us a lovely smile as her item becomes a product for the first time. Please take a look at her other items as well.
