Luca Roma’s Spirit of Woods

I often talk about art on this blog, but I don’t talk about local art enough (I mean art from people living in Takamatsu and Kagawa, and not necessarily related to Art Setouchi). Talking more about what’s happening locally is something I should be doing more here, but that implies having the time to blog in a satisfactory manner. That’s hopefully one of the big changes that’s coming in my life real soon. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Anyhow, this afternoon, I went to a small gallery downtown to go see the exhibit Spirit of Woods by local artist Luca Roma.

Luca is Italian, but a long time Takamatsu resident. I first heard of him and saw his art when I visited the MeiPAM Gallery on Shodoshima, and I have seen a few of his public art here and there since (I’m especially thinking about a cool metal sculpture on Awashima). I briefly and randomly ran into him back in 2013 during the Setouchi Triennale, but despite the fact that we have many friends and acquaintances in common, we didn’t really know each other until today.

What I liked about this exhibit, and those pieces of art, is that on top of being beautiful, they’re also “useful” and playful. As you know, while I like many different kinds of art, I do have a soft spot for art that is part of “real life” that is, not just something you look at, but something that you can interact with too.

And as a father of two, what I liked even more is that this art is aimed at children. Yes, we’re talking about real pieces of art that are for children and that can be used and played with. You could tell that Luca Roma often works with children (he’s one of the local artists that have the great privilege to work in various kindergartens all around town), and that he’s himself the father of a young child.

So, what are these pieces? Well, they are whatever you want them to be, but as you’ll see in the pictures, they’re mostly seesaws.

And for today’s pictures, we have some very special guests, that is my family, as well as Luca himself of course.