Matsuyama Airport "Mandarin Orange, Mandarin Orange, Mandarin Orange"

Stained Glass

Governer Ehime Prefecture
Tokihiro Nakamura
Owing to the cooperation by Japan Traffic Culture Association and Japan Lottery Association, a stained glass work "Mandarin orange, Mandarin orange, Mandarin orange" by Mr. Kyoji Takubo, an artist born in this prefecture, has been installed on the first floor of Matsuyama Airport Terminal Building.
First of all, I express deep respect and gratitude to Mr. Takubo and all concerned parties for contributing to production and installation of the stained glass drawing colorful oranges, as a symbol appropriate for the sky entrance of the "Citrus Kingdom Ehime."
Currently in our prefecture, aiming to realize "Ehime prefecture, the love country, full of love (smiling) faces", we are spreading the circle of "love (smiling) faces" on which the prefectural people's positive feelings and thoughtful hearts gather, and we are all committed to creating happiness unique to Ehime. And at Matsuyama Airport, we are also actively developing the environment that can make the users get "love (smiling) faces."
Under these circumstances, by installation of this powerful work on which mandarin oranges, a speciality of Ehime, are drawn fully on the screen, we expect that it can impress the images of Ehime more strongly to visitors, as well as it will produce an attractive space that receives the light of the sun of Setouchi and will make people happy in Matsuyama Airport.
Finally I wish to express my sincere hope that this stained glass work will be loved by many people and lead to promotion of use, and then Matsuyama Airport will be increasingly crowded.

Director General, Japan Traffic Culture Association
Hisao Taki
Since its establishment in 1948, Japan Traffic Culture Association has been actively engaged in the promotion of art and culture. And an important project for us is the public art promotion project as well as the exhibition project "Traffic Culture Exhibition" and the scholarship projects "Takifuji Foundation" and "International Takifuji Art Award."
The basis of the activities is the following sentence that Herbert Read left in his book "The Meaning of Art." "What we are missing now is not artists, but unconsciously artistic masses." We continue the projects in such a wish that artworks installed in public spaces will contribute to realize a relaxing and cheerful society in which people unconsciously touch arts.
35 years have passed since this public art project started in earnest, this stained glass work installed at Matsuyama Airport is 499th, and we plan to install the 500th work at Fukushima Airport in February, 2014. Thank you once again for everyone who cooperated for realization of this work and 500 works, and thank you for your continued understanding and cooperation for promotion of public art in Japan in the future.

Chief Curator, The Museum of Art, EHIME
Haruka Sugiyama
Saint Vigore de Mieux chapel in Normandy region in France - Ground glasses are attached to a part of its roof, and light passing through the rainbow-colored shining roof tiles illuminates inside of the chapel beautifully.
Kyoji Takubo migrated to the site and worked on the large-scale project for reviving the old chapel, which turned into ruins, for over 10 years including preparations since 1987. He drew apples which are the special products at the region on the inner wall, and the chapel is now familiar to the local people as "the chapel with apples".
After coming back to Japan, he worked on "Kotohirayama Revitalization Plan" as a cultural advisor to Kotohira-gu Shrine. He multidirectionally produced a debut of "Konpira" which was about to reborn through celebration of "Heisei's great ceremony for moving a deity to a new site" in 2004. The new spaces such as Ryokutaiden, the new tea room, Kami-Tsubaki and others with a shrine office, a meeting place and others, which were completed at this time, naturally blended into the place which has long history, and also blew new wind. In addition, he drew camellia with oil pastel on the sliding door at Hakushoin (Tsubaki-Shoin) and also produced a porcelain board of Arita ware which decorates the wall of Kami-Tsubaki.
Takubo has been interested in vision and physicality since he was in Tama Art University and has published a lot of conceptual works. After that, he published a work group with gold leaf applied on waste material in 1980's, "Everyday - To Time Layer I" (in 1987, Ehime Prefectural Art Museum Collection), which reconstructed the front of the atelier at that time with waste materials, and "Absolute site" in the same year. They are experimental attempts to record the dismantling processes of the buildings and to make them the theme of the works. In this way, it led to Takubo's subsequent efforts, the relationship between passage of time and scenery and space.
"Landscape art" - that is the ultimate art form that Takubo is aiming for. The art melts into the landscape and the people's lives surrounding it, and continues to influence each other - I guess this stained glass with mandarin oranges at Matsuyama Airport will also welcome visitors with shining under the Ehime sky.