✎Digi | Gen Artist | Entrepreneur / National Noh Theatre 10.12 / Prince Takamado 🖼️ 1.22-5.12 / Air Canada sponsored 🛫
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Joined January 2009
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And through it all, with all the passion and creative power we wield, it just all comes down to a nice cup of coffee. Monthly artist salon catch up @OttawaArtG with my favourite people, Norman and Marion Takeuchi.
EΞPMON retweeted
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to:
Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund
alzresearch.org/giving/
Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources
alzfdn.org/donate/
Photo Credit: Tommy Garcia
“This is very Noh.”That was Naohiko Umewaka’s response when I showed him the work-in-progress of what would become, Mecha Ryūgū Kozō 001 XRAY A.
I originally made Mecha Ryūgū Kozō as a cyberpunk, mecha-style Noh mask, directly inspired by Mitsue Yuya’s beautifully crafted exclusive mask worn by Sui. A combination between drawn elements and computer code, it was created generatively, rewritten and layered over and over again.
To conclude, I’ll leave an addendum to our Yūgen panel. Because in such times as now—AI and beyond—perhaps it can aid in search of answers to the question of what it means to be human:
“Yūgen is the zoom out to infinity. And Yūgen is the zoom into your own infinity. A perpetual oscillation between macro and micro. Belief structures, success and failure fall away out there. What remains, centred, is beauty without spectacle. The walk. The restraint.”
— EEPMON
That’s my take anyway. ⚫️⚪️
Yūgen is the zoom out to infinity.
And Yūgen is the zoom into your own infinity.
A constant oscillation between macro and micro. Belief structures, success and failure fall away out there.
What remains, centred, is beauty without spectacle.
The walk. The restraint.
Kyoto omokase last night. Dinner in a room full of PE. Interesting vibes. Should have worn my GS cap. Anyway, seems like the universe is deliberately exposing me more of this world.
“What is not done is where the interest lies.”
That line from Zeami Motokiyo (c. 1363–1443), the individual who made Noh what it is, stayed with me through the whole panel.
I sat with Matthew J. Wilson (Temple University Japan), Hideaki Koizumi (University of Tokyo), and Ikuo Honma (Showa University), moderated by Soraya Umewaka, to talk about yūgen in the age of AI.
Honma spoke of breath and stillness. In Noh, the heart is never shown outwardly. It comes through only when the body stops.
Koizumi spoke of time. AI runs on electrons at near light speed. Your nervous system runs at 100 metres per second. The gap is 2.5 million times. We will never catch up on speed, and that is exactly why we can do what AI cannot.
Wilson spoke of judgment. AI hands out information regardless of truth. Schools must teach what is true, what crosses cultures, and what you learn by doing.
And I spoke of the cut. Digital is infinite. What I long for is the tangible. I found Gutai during my studies in Canada: the artist does not disturb matter, but imparts life into it. My piece was made to respect Noh and its essence. In Noh, every movement is precise and nothing is wasted. The simplest thing is the hardest to do.
And where it gets interesting, in my medium and in Noh, is when you cut. When you stop. That is intuition, and only the human spirit defines it. Restraint around the tools is how we stay human.
EΞPMON retweeted
エリック、貴重なお話をありがとうございました。
学生時代の学びからアーティストとしての活躍へ。
エリック・チャン（eepmon）さんが、カナダの教育が自身のキャリアと創造性にどのような影響を与えたのかを振り返ります。
Sat down for an interview with First Secretary Jean-François Renaud at the Embassy of Canada to Japan (@CanEmbJapan), published by KBUNSHA. We discussed my journey combining fine art with software engineering, early video game influences, and my ongoing connection to Japan. 🇨🇦🇯🇵
EΞPMON retweeted
Thanks Eric for sharing this deeply inspiring story!
From the classroom to a successful artistic career, Eric Chan (eepmon) reflects on how his Canadian education helped shape his creative journey.
Sat down for an interview with First Secretary Jean-François Renaud at the Embassy of Canada to Japan (@CanEmbJapan), published by KBUNSHA. We discussed my journey combining fine art with software engineering, early video game influences, and my ongoing connection to Japan. 🇨🇦🇯🇵
JF: What about trial and error and taking on challenges? I think the Canadian education system always places great importance on “failing” and “changing course along the way.”
EEPMON: I’ve experienced that firsthand. I’ve made many mistakes, and I believe it’s perfectly valid to make errors while experimenting. That’s where true learning happens. “Learning” isn’t the same as “winning,” is it? There’s no clear-cut definition of success or failure to begin with. They all exist in the same realm of “experience.”
I think trial and error—gaining diverse experiences—is truly important, and the interdisciplinary approach of combining different fields to solve problems is a major strength of Canadian educational institutions.
An excerpt from my KBUNSHA interview with First Secretary, Jean-François Renaud during my Digital Worlds solo show, Prince Takamado Gallery.
🇨🇦🇯🇵 eepmon.com
