Rikuo Ueda｜風之心 Mind of Wind

風之心 Mind of Wind

Rikuo Ueda

日本 Japan

年份 Year

材料 Materials
Wind machine, paper, wood scraps, found materials

理念 Statement


Coexistence with everything is our culture.  I hope we don’t forget it.  I was born in Japan where our basic culture is based on Buddhism and Shintoism.  But, today in Japan these beliefs are more like customs, and we do not hold to either of them strictly.  For example, when I got married it was in a church; then when I had a baby I went to a Shinto shrine for the congratulatory ceremony.  When I die, a Buddhist priest will maybe come for the funeral ceremony at my grave.  I feel that Buddhism is more philosophy than religion, and Shintoism is a kind of Animism like that of the American Indian.  I feel that everything is god and everything has a relationship, and we need coexistence with everything.  That is why I live in Japanese culture. 

The wind is a symbol of the relationship for my installation.  We can’t ever have the same wind again; it is a once in a lifetime experience.  There is no border with the wind.  It is connecting to everything.  This is like the butterfly effect where even the smallest movement is connected to everything else. We have to take care of everything---other people, plants, animals, mountains, sea, sky…

藝術家 Artist



Rikuo Ueda

Rikuo Ueda of Osaka, Japan, is a widely recognized artist in Japan and internationally with a long record of exhibitions and awards for his artworks.  In 2001 he received a prize at the Osaka Triennale, and in 1996 he received a prize at the Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum.  He has been an artist in residence in Hamburg, Germany, and a visiting artist at universities in the USA such as Indiana University and Ball State University, Indiana.  Rikuo has also made his installation artworks at art museums and universities in such places as Denmark, Holland and the United States as well as many places in Japan. He also did an installation at IKON Gallery in Bimingham, UK. Rikuo is known for his wind machine installations that make drawings using the power of the wind.

作品 Artworks