Interview by Jimon

1-Where do you currently reside and work?  Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.

2-What does your name CBA signify?That’s my nick name actually. My real name is Yukifumi Shibasaki. My friends call me Shiba since I was a kid. So I replaced it with a similar sounding alphabet.

3-Did you attend an art school or is it inherent?No I didn’t. I graduated design school.

4-How long have you been making art and what lead you to start?After graduation I was a graphic designer for 24 years. And then retired. I wanted to make a change and make art for myself and not clients.

5-How did you acquire your style?I started with collage work. It was easier than using a brush. Little by little I started to use brush and do collage.

6-Have you ever come across a piece of art that you could not or did not want to stop looking at?Yes, a lot!

7-Tell us something about the art world that you want to see changed?  First I want to change myself. But its not easy. Sometimes we have to stay strong. It gets better bit by bit. Now that you mention it I’m just an outsider artist. So I just want to make me happy in the art world.

8-Do you paint intuitively or do you preplan your paintings?Sometimes yes I do pre-plan my work. But it doesn’t turn out as I had anticipated. So I always react to the results. And then I imagine and paint my reaction. Does it make sense!

9-The future is _________?  Future, but it will be a lot more different, that is my guess.

10-What is your thought on the following statement; Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable!I agree with the statement totally. My life is already like that.

11-Why make art?  Sometimes I don’t know. But I live for art.

12-What advice would you give putative collectors?  I don’t know.

13-What’s the best advice you’ve ever received in regards to your art?To read the book Point and line to plane by Kandinsky.

14-How do you define success?I think I am already successful. Because I was able to became a painter. The problem is how to keep painting and make a living from it.

15-Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration?  That’s internet.

16-If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?Wassily Kandinsky, Kurt Schwitters and Robert Rauschenberg.

17-How would someone find you on Social Media?Instagram; DMOCBA