Mr. Hara seems very dandy in my impression, riding over a motorcycle with black leather jacket waving black hair. Yet, what I like most of him, his single minded chivalrous spirit. He is afar from artistic affectation, pride, or narcissism. As a father of a child, he is one of reliable persons in the local area. At the entrance of his house, the tag of “squad leader” is hung, as he serves occasionally to do jobs of local affairs like parent’s association which is unthinkable for lazy man like me. He is conspicuous among many artists who are inward oriented. But his dandyism lies in his attitude or behavior, just simple and straightforward.
It is not dandyism of fashionability of clothing or hairstyle, to say nothing of the fact that he doesn’t think himself dandy.
His oil paintings are curt and blunt without any ornaments, such as the smooth textures or delicate lighting in modern “realism” like the memorial photographs taken in the photo shop. On the other hand, what he paints, is rather coarse, not “like photos”. His subjects are fish bones left over, a piece of cut fish remaining in the sink, the corpse of a dog, or a piece of a broken egg. So to speak, there appears an emotional feeling in taking a distant attitude to look at things. Beauty of everyday life shines itself. To draw roughly without too much details lies the reality of the picture itself which conveys the warm and sincere heart of an artist.
At the exhibition in Singapore, a gentleman stood before his painting and gazed into it for about 30 minutes and turning back to me, he said “This painting makes me happy”. By his remarks I was awakened that there is no need to paint pompous or spectacular things with embellishments. His blunt painting suggests us what’s happy painting and the fact, Beauty is there!!
He is kind towards the people surrounding him. This warmness exudes even in the painting of the corpse of a dog. The light shedding from a plain street lamp in the distant background reminds us warm light in our life. Sometimes, life is cruel, but warm any way.
With such impression, I am looking forward to the opportunity that many people will come to see his arts and enjoy them.(Chiaki Tanaka, President of Shukado)