Dialogue Sculpture and the Inokuma Collection

Inokuma sought beauty not only in his paintings but also in the way he shaped his everyday surroundings, arranging them lovingly so he could enjoy daily life to the fullest. This spirit is reflected in the small handmade sculptures he called Dialogue Sculpture and in the collection of small objects he gathered with a painter’s eye. At our museum, these items are shown in regular rotation, offering visitors a chance to experience Inokuma’s ability to find beauty in all things and to share in his view of the world.
A heavy smoker who at one time consumed 100 cigarettes a day, Inokuma quit around 1960, but he missed having something in his hands. He began rolling chocolate wrappers and other scraps of paper into long, thin shapes like cigarettes. These eventually became insect-like forms wrapped in wire. When he placed many of them together on a table, they looked as if they were chatting merrily with one another, which led him to call them Dialogue Sculpture.
He also gathered anything that spoke to him, from valuable antiques to crushed empty cans picked up along the roadside, and displayed them throughout his home. The collection consists of objects in which Inokuma simply recognized beauty, without concern for function, material, or era. Although he rarely depicted these items in paintings, he did not simply tuck them away either. He kept them in places where he could see them, letting them energize his daily life.