Impact of Paintings Made from Waste Materials from a Particular Region on Viewers’ Behavioral Intention Regarding Social and Environmental Issues

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze how future landscape paintings using paints and binders made from the waste materials of a particular region and the background information of these artworks affect viewers’ behavioral intentions regarding social and environmental issues. First, 30 beauty evaluation items were extracted by a repertory grid analysis. Then, we asked participants to view the artworks at an exhibition in order to determine the impact of the background information behind the painting and the painting itself on participants’ imagination of the future, reconsidering themselves, social and environmental issues, and their behavioral intentions. The results showed that viewing paintings with their background information and using paints made of waste materials from a particular region improved participants’ behavioral intentions to imagine the future, to reconsider themselves, and to reconsider social and environmental issues. The elements of beauty of the paintings were found to have the potential to trigger the first step toward lifestyle change for sustainability.

1. Introduction

Lifestyle changes for sustainability must be voluntarily made by individuals or must present as opportunities in lifestyle decisions. This requires methodologies that enhance individuals’ creativity regarding their lifestyle design and facilitate change. In recent years, as part of attempts to increase sustainability, there has been increasing collaboration between art and science using creativity. We would like to clarify what properties of artworks lead a person to pay attention to social and environmental issues and increase behavioral intention to improve sustainability. The purpose of this study is to analyze how the background information of artworks and future landscape paintings, painted with paints made from waste materials of a particular region and using binders, affect viewers’ awareness and behavioral intentions regarding social and environmental issues in Japan. To analyze the effects, we constructed an index of the beauty of the paintings and conducted quantitative and qualitative analyses of the impact of the paintings on the viewers. This study seeks to propose a new methodology to encourage lifestyle change. The starting point for this research is the current effects of climate change.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Climate Change and Goals

Global greenhouse gas emissions are rising. Current human activities are exceeding the planetary boundaries for safe living on Earth [1]. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has confirmed that 2024 is the warmest year on record, based on six international datasets. The global average surface temperature was 1.55 °C (with a margin of uncertainty of ±0.13 °C) above the 1850–1900 average [2]. In the midst of such climate change, many countries around the world, including Japan, have set a goal of achieving a carbon-neutral society by 2050. However, it was suggested that at the Summit of the Future, UN member states should create an updated and reinvigorated SDG framework that guides national action and global cooperation until 2050, and that the UN should set up an inter-agency, multicountry working group to develop a detailed plan [3]. In 2020, Japan set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. In 2021, Japan set a goal to reduce GHG emissions by 46% and to reduce emissions in the residential sector by 66.3% from 2013 levels by 2030. A carbon-neutral society cannot be achieved by simply conserving energy and resources without changing lifestyles today. It requires a major transformation of lifestyles and social systems. We must completely change our energy sources, the resources we use, the values of people who live in social systems with convenience, and the various comforts provided by government and company services [4].

2.2. Lifestyle Design for Sustainability

In the 2000s, environmental scholars studied backcasting, proposed by Robinson (1982), as a method for considering a future that is not an extension of the present [5]. Because backcasting is a method that considers solutions found under conditions of resource depletion, it has also received increasing attention in recent years as conditions have become more stringent in an attempt to stop the recent effects of climate change. Backcasting has continued to evolve up to the present. In 2020, there were approximately 550 backcasting-related papers. Looking at the average number of citations per year for these papers, most of the top 20 high-quality papers cited Robinson (1982) [5]. Among them, a lifestyle design method was developed that uses backcasting to solve future problems and design a spiritually affluent lifestyle for sustainability. Subsequently, it became clear that the backcasting process requires the creation of new values under environmental constraints as its first step, and these values were successively used to establish a new way of thinking for creating new future values called the “backcasting way of thinking”, aiding in designing future sustainable lifestyles [6,7,8]. For this reason, the backcasting way of thinking has been adopted by many companies and local governments for designing future sustainable lifestyles and developing sustainable products, services, and policies. For example, four local governments (Kitakami city, Toyooka city, Shima city, and Okinoerabu island) in Japan have used backcasting [6] to design future lifestyles as part of a national project. They hold new lifestyle experience events aimed at consuming local produce, involving many residents and changing the use of locally produced food so that it is used in school lunches [8].

The first step of the process of the lifestyle design method [6] is to use trusted national data across seven environmental risk areas, namely population, energy, resources, climate change, water, food, and biodiversity, and set the conditions of future environmental constraints. The second step is to discuss what kind of social and environmental conditions might occur in the future under these environmental constraints. The third step is to look critically at current lifestyles and innovations and pinpoint those that will become problematic under future environmental constraints. The fourth step is to think of ways to address those problems. The final step is to design a new and spiritually affluent lifestyle that incorporates those countermeasures. This designed lifestyle creates a roadmap for achieving these measure in the future. As can be seen from this process, users of this method are required to be creative in imagining their future image, to focus on the social and environmental issues today, and to clarify the relationship between these issues and their activities. Since the use of products and services based on fossil fuels needs to be reduced, new value creation is necessary to maintain spiritually affluent lifestyles. Creativity is also required by companies, local governments, and individuals to improve sustainability.

The reason why these methods of promoting lifestyle change voluntarily rather than forcibly have been considered is that individuals are free to make their own lifestyle choices. Moreover, this concept stems from lifestyles being dependent on the natural environment and natural resources. They cannot be forced to change from other areas. The method must provide measures to enhance the creativity of individuals regarding their lifestyle, and lifestyle change must be promoted. Empathy is one of the strongest driving forces in the process of creating this new lifestyle. The process of encouraging this new lifestyle across a wide area must be driven by empathy, and the process must urge supporters of the new lifestyle to follow it themselves and encourage its widespread adoption [9].

2.3. Sustainability and Creativity

There are some research examples that focus on creativity in sustainability research. Family (2003) argues that planetary problems are complex, the current knowledge basis is very thin, and current expertise is not necessarily specialized [10]. Given these conditions, it is argued that no single person can be expected to find a creative solution for this complex problem. There is a set of unresolved and unidentified threats targeting the individual as well as the planet. Science and technology, implemented by industrialization, have triggered evolutionary dynamics of unknown force and direction. This makes drawing on history as a source of models from which to glean ideas useless. No situation remotely analogous existed in the past. Therefore, collective creativity with psychology’s leadership is necessary to solve sustainability problems [10]. Regarding levels of design, Cucuzzella (2016) presents the varying scales of design approaches: product improvement, product redesign, function, and system level of design innovation [11]. Brem et al. (2020) connected levels of design to creativity and divided creative solutions into the Four-C (Four-creativity) category model of creativity: Big-C, Pro-C, Little-c, and Mini-c [12]. This model is developmental and non-linear. Little-c is something that affects others and benefits the group, while Mini-c is something that is at the individual level and benefits the individual. Little-c refers to creativity that does not draw on expert knowledge, and Mini-C refers to an individual constructing his or her own knowledge regarding the learning process. Individual creativity usually refers to Mini-c or Little-c [12]. Therefore, it is necessary to narrow down the target for lifestyle change and consider methods to promote lifestyle change.

Cheng (2019) showed that there are five elements of creativity: (1) sensitivity and problem-finding, (2) creative problem-solving abilities, (3) affinity for self-creating a lifestyle, (4) creative system thinking and future thinking, and (5) reconceptualization of creativity and environmental sustainability [13]. This is entirely consistent with the elements included in the steps of the lifestyle design method based on backcasting already described [6]. Cheng (2019) discovered that creativity, as a kind of self-actualization, helps develop both individual competences and intrinsic motivation, which are conducive to life-long self-determining environmental sustainability behaviors [13].

There are many studies on creativity among companies aiming for sustainability, but Nidumolu et al. (2009) pointed out that many companies are convinced that the more environmentally friendly they become, the more their competitiveness will decrease. They believe it will add to costs and not deliver immediate financial benefits [14]. In fact, there are five stages: (1) viewing compliance as opportunity, (2) making value chains sustainable, (3) designing sustainable products and services, (4) developing new business models, and (5) creating next-practice platforms. The word innovation is often used in the context of sustainable management among companies, but creativity is required for sustainable management. Creativity among companies mainly refers to Pro-C or Big-C.

The need for creativity is also implied in policies. The UN Sustainable Development Goals explicitly call for businesses to use their creativity to solve current sustainable development challenges, as outlined in target 8.3, goal 8, “Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services” [15].

2.4. Collaboration Between Art and Science for Creativity

Creativity has long been the focus of attention in the arts. In the latter half of the 20th century, the concept of “Arts based research (ABR)”, an attempt at promoting collaboration between art and science in academic research, was created. Hernandez-Torrano and Ibrayeva (2020) suggested that the number of papers and citations related to ABR has been increasing since around 2005 [16].

In the case of arts and science collaboration in sustainability research, Heras et al. (2021) suggested that by drawing on two strong currents within sustainability science, namely, the emphasis on transdisciplinary approaches and the need to move towards societal transformations, such hybrid approaches seemingly contribute unique methods to sustainability research [17]. Despite repeated claims from sustainability scientists about art’s role in sustainability transformations, joint analyses with artists and practitioners are still rare. The authors presented five key areas identified in a workshop where arts-based methods can significantly contribute to sustainability research: (1) embracing more-than-cognitive aspects of knowledge, (2) improving communication, (3) grappling with power dynamics, (4) shifting relationships to nature, and (5) facilitating future visioning [17]. It can be said that the area of collaboration between arts and science is expanding.

Galafassi et al. (2018) reviewed a range of studies and synthesized them in order to identify the perceived role of the arts in fostering climate transformations [18]. The analysis of climate-related art projects and initiatives has shown increased engagement in recent years, particularly with the visual, performing, and literary arts. The arts are moving beyond raising awareness and entering the terrain of interdisciplinarity and knowledge co-creation [18].

2.5. Sustainability and Empathy

The emotional aspects of collaboration in enhancing creativity for sustainability are important. Carlsson et al. (2015) presented a concept for creating arenas based on interactions between expertise from certain branches of industry and sustainability professionals and researchers, addressing and solving sustainability challenges [19]. They concluded that skill, structure, setting, and surrender of control, as well as finding “red and hot” topics for the jams, are the key factors for successful sustainability jam sessions. The issues addressed in jam sessions should be important enough that participants feel a significant sense of commitment and that decision makers and others relevant parties take part in the experimentation, thereby giving each jam session a practical meaning in the development of an organization [19].

In order to improve sustainability, not only human creativity but also emotional and psychological aspects are important [20]. Brown et al. (2019) showed that the relationship between empathy and sustainability represents a key advance in understanding the underpinnings of human–environment relations [21]. They assert that a lack of empathy for nature and for others limits one’s motivation to conserve the environment and promote sustainability. Critically, the relationship between empathy and sustainability is mediated by place and identity, factors which constrain and shape empathy’s role in pro-environmental sustainability behavior [21].

Thus, empathy strengthens commitment to the organization and contributes to the organization’s need for increased creativity, while a lack of empathy has been shown to limit one’s motivation to promote sustainability.

2.6. The Role of Painting in Arts-Based Methods

Coemans and Hannes (2017) reviewed ABR methods from 1994 to 2013, focusing only on ABR, and found that visual art accounted for 64%, performing art 19%, literary art 2%, and multiple-methods approaches 15% [22]. Among visual art, painting accounted for 3.6% [22], showing that the use of paintings in ABR is relatively small.

However, the relationship between painting and human behavior has a long history. Dating back to between 100,000 and 85,000 years ago, the earliest examples of figurative and non-figurative painted rock art were produced by anatomical modern humans in Spain. From then on, the tradition of using coloring raw materials to produce different sorts of art on different media (stone, bone, antler, pottery, and so forth) spread around the world at different points in time. These materials were used not only to produce paints, but due to their properties, they were also used as preservatives, abrasives, water repellents, and protective agents. Prehistoric art used various media and various techniques (painting, sculpture). It is said that paints were not only used because they were available, but were also culturally selected and influenced by tradition. Paints and the perception of local resources are intrinsically related [23]. The narrative behind paints continued to be conveyed through paintings. Thus, it is possible to give meaning to the paint in a painting, and it has the power to convey that meaning across time and space.

There is an existing study on sustainability, which is difficult to express in words, that employed an analysis of mail artworks by artists using paints to study the promotion of sustainability and its impact on individual behavior. According to Sanz-Hernández (2021), while the mail artworks using paints created by artists required creativity, the degree of creativity was wide-ranging, and the artworks showed that they were a process of redirecting sustainability [24]. In addition, some artists conveyed critical messages about sustainability [24]. This is an example of a study that conveys a nonverbal message from artist to artist, but it is possible that artworks using paints can also be used to promote creativity and problem discovery for ordinary consumers.

Thus, paintings using local waste materials, which symbolize local social and environmental issues, may be able to share knowledge about social and environmental issues with many people beyond the academic community. Painting with paint made from local waste materials gives meaning to the paintings and conveys that meaning beyond time and space. As a result, the creativity and problem-finding skills of the general public may be enhanced through artworks, allowing the general public to create their own sustainable future, design their own lifestyles, and create solutions to their problems.

3. The Purpose of This Study

As part of attempts to increase sustainability, there has been a collaboration between art and science using creativity. After reviewing many papers, our aim is to clarify what properties of artworks make a person pay attention to social and environmental issues and increase behavioral intention to improve sustainability. The arts can spontaneously increase individual interest and personal creativity, and potentially provide an opportunity for individuals to reconsider their lifestyles. Within the arts, visual, performing, and literary arts have become increasingly involved in recent years in art projects and initiatives related to climate change. It has been shown that individual creativity is associated with problem-solving skills, future thinking, and empathy. If we can determine what qualities of artworks lead a person to focus on social and environmental issues and increase behavioral intentions toward sustainability, the arts may be able to provide the opportunity for spontaneous lifestyle change. This relationship derives from the notion that a painting leaves its interpretation open to others. Paintings do not offer a viewer a single meaning. Indeed, paintings may encourage viewers to spontaneously change their perspectives, to look at local social and environmental issues, and to be prepared to take action.

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze how the background information of artworks and future landscape paintings, painted with paints made from waste materials and binders from a particular region, affect viewers’ awareness and behavioral intentions regarding social and environmental issues.

4. Methods

4.1. Repertory Grid Analysis and Laddering

In this study, the combination of repertory grid analysis and laddering using photos of artworks which show future landscape paintings of a region 100 years from now, background information of the local region of the landscape, and samples of paints made from wastes as stimuli is used as a method to identify the relationship between the preference of viewers and the quality of the artworks. This method extracts the subject’s constructs in the subject’s own words and makes explicit the subject’s evaluation items. It has been developed in the fields of environmental psychology and architecture and has recently been used as a marketing research method in the field of product development. A questionnaire survey and interviews are used to analyze relations between the beautifulness of artworks according to viewers and their behavioral intention regarding social and environmental issues.

Repertory grid analysis is based on Kelly’s (1955) personal construct theory (PCT) [25]. The notion of the “personal construct” refers to the ideas behind the actual discrimination that the subject makes between phenomena (people or objects) in the environment. Repertory grid analysis is a method that attempts to reveal subjects’ constructs by providing them with several sets of elements to be compared. The fundamental postulate of PCT is that “people act like scientists in the way they evaluate the world around them: formulating, testing, verifying and updating hypotheses about the world and its relationship to themselves” [26]. In other words, a person’s understanding of the world is achieved through an active and constructive process of erecting “personal constructs” which can be revised based on a person’s experience. Accordingly, individuals’ “personal constructs” can provide essential information about how they make sense of the world.

Laddering is employed to extract the upper and lower constructs of a certain construct. When identifying the top-ranked constructs, “please indicate the reason why XX is better for you” should be asked. This laddering technique is called laddering up. When identifying the lower-ranked constructs, “You said that XX is good, but what exactly makes it XX for you” should be asked. This laddering technique is called laddering down. This technique makes it possible to clarify the relationship between evaluation items and is very effective in structurally clarifying the evaluation mechanism. Constructs elicited by repertory grid analysis may be employed as the starting point of laddering. However, it is likely that affective components, objectives, or values, rather than the physical attributes of an object, are elicited by repertory grid analysis. This is certainly the case in many previous studies that employed repertory grid analysis [27].

4.2. Element Selection

An element is the specific subject of focus of an investigation. The elements adopted in this study are the 12 kinds of photos of future landscape paintings of a region 100 years from now painted by using waste materials from that region. Figure 1 shows an example of the paintings. These paintings were created by an artist who has won prominent awards and has traveled directly to the local region to paint artwork of the future landscape of the region 100 years from now; they used waste materials from the region related to local social and environmental issues as paint. The name of the artist is “Ayami”. The artist has traveled around many areas of Japan in a camper for 4 years to search for waste materials to use as paints. The artist asks local people why the waste materials are generated and talks to them about what kind of future they would like to see. The artist crushes and processes waste materials to produce Japanese-style paints which he uses to create his artwork. Therefore, the colors are largely dependent on the waste materials. However, the artist uses waste materials to create paintings of the future of the region in order to raise awareness, as the waste material visually represents social and environmental issues, to make people imagine their future landscape, and to encourage people to act with the future in mind. An important goal for the artist is to make people aware of social and environmental issues. To this end, the artist works to convey background information about the region in the paintings. As paintings have been made using local resources since prehistoric times [23], the effect of conveying local identity can be expected. The artistry of paintings may enable them to convey a nonverbal message, such as identity, that cannot be conveyed solely through the background information of the painting [24]. Moreover, problem-finding and problem-solving skills are expected to be demonstrated when imagining the future after viewing this artist’s work. Since the artist’s paintings depict the future of the region 100 years from now, it is possible that encouraging people to imagine the future will help them focus their attention on local social and environmental issues.

At the back of these photos, there is background information about the region, detailing the social and environmental issues. Since these paintings are too big to carry, photos of these paintings are used for this investigation to show people the artwork created using paints made from wastes. Each painting is created with paints made from either sludge and oyster shell, incense sticks, rock, deer bone, festival float, ocean debris, building materials, coffee grounds, bamboo, coffee jute bags, charcoal left over from torches, or water chestnut, all of which are waste materials from particular regions. Waste was equally collected from different regions in Japan. For example, Figure 1 shows the story of a painting of the Ashio Copper Mine called “Watarase Night Sky Railway” (Figure 1). During her travels, the artist visited the Ashio Copper Mine, which she had seen in textbooks at school. The Ashio Copper Mine was the largest copper mine in Japan during the Meiji Era. Many trees were cut down to make fuel for refining copper. Because of the smoke pollution, trees stopped growing. With fewer trees, flooding became more likely. Furthermore, chemicals flowed into the Watarase River, which led to mass fish death and caused severe damage to the crops in the basin. As such, the Ashio Copper Mine is known in Japan as a major pollution problem. At the time, however, copper was exported to the rest of the world and contributed greatly to the wealth of the country. Mining techniques and anti-pollution technologies such as extracting copper from water were made available to the world free of charge. These technologies are still in use today and are being improved upon. The smoke emissions and waste disposal that we are familiar with are the result of trial and error at the Ashio Copper Mine. There are many ideas and technologies that have been proposed throughout the history of the Ashio Copper Mine that are difficult to directly find nowadays. If people have limited knowledge, this represents a challenge or a problem, but if people understand more about the situation, they will be thankful. The painting materials are stones from the Ashio Copper Mine, discarded because they were not cost-effective for extracting copper. The people who mined them secretly took them home with them. As time went by, and after those people passed away, their families returned the stones to the Ashio Copper Mine. The stones were crushed and turned into paint for this painting. The painting is of Mato Station 100 years later. Thanks to tree-planting activities that began 200 years ago, the mountain, once devoid of vegetation, is now lush and green. The new railroad line, the “Watarase Night Sky Railway”, stretches from here.

4.3. Interviews for Repertory Grid Analysis

The personal interviews for repertory grid analysis were conducted with the use of photographs and samples of paints at the laboratory or in an office. While findings of laboratory experiments are often hard to generalize due to the exclusion of variables that might be observed in the field or exhibition room, such experiments afford focused investigation of structural relations between variables under controlled conditions. This approach also minimizes uncontrollable variables by providing subjects with highly similar environments and identical stimuli.

To decrease the time required to complete each exercise and streamline the interview process, reducing the burden on participants, a smaller number of interviewees was desired. There are no specific rules to determine the number of interviewees required for a repertory grid analysis exercise [28]. Indeed, it is difficult to ascertain the number of interviewees needed to obtain viable results from past studies.

Therefore, 20 interviewees (men and women, equally sampled in their 20 s, 30 s, 40 s, 50 s, and 60 s) were chosen by the research company, which used networks to randomly test whether the rate of increase in the number of evaluation items would reach zero. The research company conducted 20 interviews, and each interview took one or two hours, taking place from August 2024 to October 2024 at the laboratory or in an office. Since the sample size was relatively small (20 interviewees), generalization of the conclusions is limited and must be taken into consideration.

The specific questions are as follows:

(1)

Look at the 12 pictures and rank them in order of how beautiful they are.

(2)

Tell us why you chose it as the most beautiful one.

(3)

Tell us why you chose it as the 12th most beautiful one.

(4)

I understand why you chose it as the most beautiful painting, but what does that mean? (ladder up)

(5)

I understand why you chose it as the most beautiful painting, but what were the specific criteria? (ladder down)

(6)

I understand why you chose it as the 12th most beautiful painting, but what does that mean? (ladder up)

(7)

I understand why you chose it as the 12th most beautiful painting, but what were the specific criteria? (ladder down)

After this, the interviewees were asked about the second most beautiful photos, the eleventh most beautiful photos, and so on, starting with the photos that they rank higher in sets of two. Finally, the interviewees were asked about all 12 photos, specifically related to their reason, using laddering up and laddering down techniques.

Next, interviewees were asked the following questions in order of the steps (Figure 2).

After this process, we analyzed the content of all constructs expressed in the interviewees’ own words, and summarized responses that could be considered identical in content but expressed in different ways. As a result, the 720 responses were consolidated into 30 items. We call these “beauty evaluation items of paintings”. In order to minimize the inclusion of the researchers’ subjective opinions, this process was carried out by one researcher and one artist. Then, each interviewee’s constructs were replaced by these aggregated beauty evaluation items. For 5 out of 20 interviewees, the rate of increase in the number of extracted beauty evaluation items reached zero. As a result, the number of interviewees was determined to be sufficient.

4.4. Questionnaire Survey and Interview About Artwork Exhibition

The artwork exhibition “Drawing from Waste Materials 2024” was held in order to gain data for the analysis of how the background information of artworks and future landscape paintings of a region 100 years from now, painted with paints and binders made from waste materials of the region, affect viewers’ awareness and behavioral intentions regarding societal and environmental issues (Figure 3).

This was the artist’s eighth exhibition and the fifth in their series of exhibitions of artworks made from waste materials of a particular region. For example, there are paintings made using waste materials from a particular region such as incense sticks that were broken and could not be sold, ore from copper mining, bamboo from abandoned bamboo forests, charcoal left over from torches used in cormorant fishing bonfires, etc., as paints. The artwork was created to “make participants think about social and environmental issues and the future”. The artworks express the story of the source of waste materials, the culture/situation of nature/history that the local region wants to preserve. The purpose is to give participants an opportunity to think about the future, to look at the current situation of social and environmental issues, and to look at their current lifestyles. It is assumed that participants will find it easy to imagine the future through artworks, narratives about the paints, narratives about the local region, and other narratives about the paintings.

Next to the 30 paintings, there is written information which explains the artworks, including narratives about the paints (the waste materials used for the paints) and narratives about the local region (the social and environmental issues in the local region and the artist’s outlook for the future in the local region).

The artist provided information on the production process of the five artworks via an audio guide detailing their conversation with the provider of the waste materials used for the artwork. The participants can use a QR code to access the audio guides which is placed in front of paintings.

At the venue, participants were able to ask questions directly and exchange opinions with the artist, with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding. Each person was able to choose a copper badge depicting an artwork, and by wearing it around the venue, they could ask for an explanation of the painting from the artist herself in front of the artwork. The artist tried to promote communication between the participants and herself, making the meaning of the artworks clearer.

The exhibition was held from 14 to 24 November 2024, from 11:00 to 19:00, at the Creative/Art gallery CORSO, about one minute walk from Jinbocho Station in Tokyo. It was help on the third floor with open access to everyone. Participants could visit without making a reservation.

At the exhibition, artworks, art books, and prints of the artworks were sold for a fee. The prices varied depending on the artworks, but the prices ranked from highest to lowest in the order of artworks, prints, and art books. Prints acquired in 2024 can be exchanged for prints (both old and new) exhibited at the exhibition in 2025. The art books are in the form of binders, allowing pages to be added for each artwork. Therefore, we can avoid the need for a large inventory and wasting paper every time we make an art book, and buyers are able to create their own art books.

4.5. Questionnaire Survey Design

To analyze the impact of the paintings, a questionnaire was designed for those who attended the exhibition. As shown in

Table 1. Questionnaire items.

	Questionnaire Items
(a)	Satisfaction with this exhibition
(b)	Media that you came to know about this exhibition
(c)	Number of times you have participated in the same artist’s exhibitions in the past
(d)	Points to evaluation of the painting (appearance of the artworks, background information on artworks, the artist’s technique in creating the artworks)
(e)	Most favorite artworks
(f)	Among the artworks in this exhibition, the artwork that made you reconsider about social and environmental issues
(g)	Items of the artwork that made you reconsider about social and environmental issues
(h)	What you thought about through the artworks
(i)	Imagination of 100 years from now
(j)	How you would like to enjoy the artworks in the future
(k)	Purchasing goods of artworks
(l)	Other information (gender, age, region of residence)

, questions (a), (b), and (c) were asked to obtain basic information about participants. Question (d) was designed to analyze participants’ preferences in terms of visual impression, the narratives of the artwork, and the drawing techniques. Questions (e) and (f) were proposed to ascertain the impacts of the artwork on the participants. Question (g) was used to analyze what elements of the artwork made them consider the social and environmental issues related to the artwork using the beauty evaluation items. Questions (h), (i), and (j) were used to analyze the reason for reconsideration after viewing the artworks using multiple regression analysis. Question k) was used to understand participants’ purchasing behavior.

In question (g), the subjects were asked about whether or not any of the items evaluating the artworks that participants selected made them think about social and environmental issues. These data are used for principal component analysis.

In questions (h) and (i), the subjects were asked to what extent the idea applied to them (rating on a 1–5 scale: 1 = not at all; 5 = very applicable). These data are used for regression analysis of viewers’ attention to social and environmental issues.

4.6. Survey and Interview Implementation and Analysis

At the venue, a QR code was displayed to ask participants who attended the exhibition to answer the questionnaire. The questionnaire had to be submitted by 26 December 2024. The final number of valid responses was 107. IBM’s statistical analysis software IBM SPSS Statistics Version 29 was used for the analysis and the test.

During the exhibition, 9 participants were randomly selected as case studies and asked about the impact of the artwork on their sense of value, their “reconsideration of social and environmental issues”, their “reconsideration of their own life”, their purchasing behavior in relation to artwork, prints, and art books, and their intention to visit the location of the materials used to make the artwork after viewing it.

5. Results and Discussion

5.1. Beauty Evaluation Items of Paintings

As a result of the repertory grid analysis, 720 constructs were extracted, and similar terms were unified into 30 terms. The number of terms extracted was 60.0% for the first interviewee, 80.0% for the second, 93.3% for the third, 96.7% for the fourth, and 100% for the fifth; the number of the terms was saturated beyond five interviewees. Therefore, the number of interviewees included was sufficient for this study. Finally, we extracted 30 terms and named them the “beauty evaluation items of paintings”, as shown in

Table 2. Beauty evaluation items of paintings.

1. Brightness	11. Simplicity	21. Light direction
2. Coloring	12. Enjoyment	22. Exuberance
3. Calmness	13. Composition	23. Affinity
4. Making sense	14. Illusions	24. Mystique
5. Contrast	15. Vitality	25. Liveliness
6. Nostalgia	16. Futuristic looking	26. Punch
7. Brilliance	17. Motifs Relationship	27. Dynamicity
8. Hopefulness	18. Delicacy	28. Tempting to imagine
9. Curiosity	19. Attractiveness	29. Having world view
10. Reality	20. Glamourous	30. Material texture

.

5.2. Characteristics of Participants and Purchasing Behavior in Relation to Prints and Art Books

Among those who participated in the exhibition “Drawing from Waste Materials 2024” and responded to the questionnaire, 44.9% attended the exhibition for the first time, while 55.1% attended for the second time or more. A total of 45.8% of the survey respondents said that they found out about the exhibition via X, 23.4% via Instagram, 22.4% via YouTube and only 5.6% via TV. On a 5-point scale, 86.0% of the survey respondents were “satisfied,” with the highest rating of 5 points, and 12.1% were “somewhat satisfied,” with a rating of 4 points. A total of 21.5% of the survey respondents purchased prints of the artworks on sale at the venue for the first time. Among the survey respondents who purchased prints of the artworks for the first time, 39.1% of them wanted to just purchase them and not exchange them, 21.7% wanted to exchange their purchased prints and enjoy various artworks, and 21.7% wanted to keep a certain artwork for a long time. Moreover, 57.0% of the survey respondents purchased an art book that was on sale at the venue. Among the survey respondents who purchased an art book, 78.7% wanted to purchase all of the art books of the artworks, and 11.5% of them wanted to collect each art book for all of the artworks if there was an easy way to purchase the entire collection.

A total of 96.3% of the respondents viewed an artwork that made them reconsider the social and environment issues. Only 18.4% of all respondents matched their favorite artwork with the artwork that made them reconsider the social and environmental issues the most. The variance in the distribution of artworks selected as the “most favorite”, 18.2, and the variance in the distribution of artworks selected as the “artwork that made them reconsider the social and environmental issues most”, 19.7, were almost the same.

5.3. Principal Component Analysis of Beauty Evaluation Items of the Artworks Which Made Participants Reconsider Social and Environmental Issues

We collected 103 valid responses about the artworks which made participants reconsider the social and environmental issues out of 107 total responses. The responses came from 79 males (76.7%) and 23 females (21.5%), with 1 person aged 10–19, 28 persons aged 20–29, 28 persons aged 30–39, 25 persons aged 40–49, 15 persons aged 50–59, and 6 persons aged 60–69. A total of 47 were first-time viewers (45.6%) and 56 had attended the exhibition more than 2 times (54.4%).

Table 3. Rotated component matrix.

	Factor
Item	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1. Brightness	0.408	0.100	0.817	−0.031	0.031	0.045	0.049	0.195	−0.105
2. Coloring	0.276	0.042	0.722	0.465	−0.184	0.187	−0.058	−0.076	0.018
3. Calmness	−0.081	−0.184	−0.116	0.330	−0.230	0.749	−0.352	0.175	0.034
4. Making sense	−0.049	−0.352	0.262	0.292	0.194	0.654	−0.179	−0.004	0.120
5. Contrast	0.940	−0.006	0.164	0.006	0.055	−0.052	0.122	−0.022	0.088
6. Nostalgia	0.066	0.229	0.094	0.088	0.182	−0.111	0.095	0.873	−0.016
7. Brilliance	0.193	−0.098	0.903	−0.027	−0.045	−0.131	−0.054	−0.031	−0.063
8. Hopefulness	−0.018	−0.339	−0.161	−0.162	−0.063	−0.103	0.813	0.097	−0.266
9. Curiosity	−0.177	−0.114	0.156	0.702	0.281	−0.007	0.007	0.075	−0.047
10. Reality	−0.152	0.908	0.032	−0.180	−0.044	0.050	−0.054	0.109	−0.115
11. Simplicity	−0.169	0.010	−0.132	−0.142	−0.069	0.120	−0.164	0.861	0.232
12. Enjoyment	0.882	−0.010	0.111	0.090	0.033	0.037	0.063	−0.090	0.080
13. Composition	0.759	−0.055	−0.045	0.516	0.060	0.109	−0.130	−0.091	0.027
14. Illusions	0.406	0.102	0.092	0.323	0.404	−0.329	0.017	0.160	0.323
15. Vitality	0.057	−0.155	−0.080	0.788	−0.190	0.040	−0.310	−0.206	−0.142
16. Futuristic looking	0.065	−0.192	0.252	0.136	0.002	−0.844	−0.257	0.098	−0.127
17. Motifs Relationship	−0.151	0.788	−0.001	−0.089	−0.254	−0.367	−0.130	0.093	−0.123
18. Delicacy	−0.056	0.858	0.052	−0.209	−0.043	0.039	−0.052	0.017	0.251
19. Attractiveness	−0.068	0.034	0.182	0.268	0.866	0.150	0.180	0.094	−0.053
20. Glamourous	−0.101	0.109	0.909	0.122	0.077	−0.140	0.061	−0.105	0.218
21. Light direction	0.150	−0.151	0.093	0.022	0.111	0.016	0.931	−0.118	0.066
22. Exuberance	0.884	−0.037	0.200	−0.144	−0.020	−0.095	0.132	0.060	0.011
23. Affinity	−0.012	−0.138	0.053	−0.174	−0.012	0.190	−0.122	0.185	0.899
24. Mystique	0.046	−0.051	0.136	0.874	0.212	0.105	0.088	0.032	−0.013
25. Liveliness	0.833	−0.103	0.093	−0.173	−0.179	−0.047	0.024	−0.022	−0.193
26. Punch	0.855	−0.039	−0.022	0.045	0.379	−0.118	−0.108	0.008	−0.018
27. Dynamicity	−0.220	−0.226	0.407	−0.410	0.019	0.418	−0.255	0.014	−0.395
28.Tempting to imagine	0.415	−0.201	−0.115	−0.104	0.785	−0.080	−0.111	0.277	−0.010
29. Having world view	0.006	−0.310	−0.170	0.101	0.877	−0.081	0.012	−0.153	0.045
30. Material texture	0.117	0.833	−0.008	0.179	−0.087	−0.034	−0.186	0.057	−0.116

Notes: Principal component analysis (PCA). Varimax with Kaiser normalization. Axis of rotation converges after 8 iterations.

shows 10 extracted factors with an eigenvalue λ > 1; the cumulative total explanatory power is 87.631%. The 10 factors are detailed as follows.

Factor 1. Items are mainly related to exuberance, enjoyment, and punch. This factor was called “vigorous”. The explanatory power is 20.96%.

Factor 2. Items are related to reality, delicacy, and material texture. This factor was called “realistic”. The explanatory power is 14.99%.

Factor 3. Items are related to glamourous, brilliance, brightness, and coloring. This factor was called “colorful”. The explanatory power is 11.82%.

Factor 4. Items are related to mystique, vitality, and curiosity. This factor was called “mysterious”. The explanatory power is 9.615%.

Factor 5. Items are related to having world view, attractiveness, and tempting to imagine. This factor was called “fantastic”. The explanatory power is 8.771%.

Factor 6. Items are related to calmness and non-futuristic looking. This factor was called “rustic”. The explanatory power is 7.749%.

Factor 7. Items are related to light direction and hopefulness. This factor was called “wishful”. The explanatory power is 5.429%.

Factor 8. Items are related to nostalgia and simplicity. This factor was called “nostalgic”. The explanatory power is 4.776%.

Factor 9. Items are related to affinity. This factor was called “friendly”. The explanatory power is 4.275%.

These factors were unified with adjectives.

These factors led to participants reconsidering social and environmental issues and were strongly influenced by the paintings’ vigorous, realistic, and colorful aspects.

5.4. Relationship Between Purchasing Behavior and Beauty Evaluation Items of Artworks

Table 4. Relationship between purchasing behavior and beauty evaluation items of artworks.

Item	(a) Perchasing Art Book	(b) Non-Perchasing Art Book	(a)–(b)	(c) Perchasing Prints	(d) Non-Perchasing Prints	(c)–(d)
1. Brightness	0.082	0.109	−0.027	0.174	0.071	0.102
2. Coloring	0.197	0.109	0.088	0.261	0.131	0.130
3. Calmness	0.082	0.065	0.017	0.043	0.083	−0.040
4. Making sense	0.344	0.174	0.170	0.435	0.226	0.209
5. Contrast	0.066	0.065	0.000	0.130	0.048	0.083
6. Nostalgia	0.066	0.065	0.000	0.043	0.071	−0.028
7. Brilliance	0.131	0.196	−0.065	0.261	0.131	0.130
8. Hopefulness	0.164	0.239	−0.075	0.087	0.226	−0.139
9. Curiosity	0.148	0.109	0.039	0.261	0.095	0.166
10. Reality	0.115	0.043	0.071	0.174	0.060	0.114
11. Simplicity	0.066	0.000	0.066	0.087	0.024	0.063
12. Enjoyment	0.016	0.043	−0.027	0.043	0.024	0.020
13. Composition	0.262	0.130	0.132	0.304	0.179	0.126
14. Illusions	0.262	0.217	0.045	0.348	0.214	0.134
15. Vitality	0.213	0.304	−0.091	0.174	0.274	−0.100
16. Futuristic looking	0.115	0.109	0.006	0.087	0.119	−0.032
17. Motifs Relationship	0.262	0.196	0.067	0.174	0.250	−0.076
18. Delicacy	0.098	0.130	−0.032	0.174	0.095	0.079
19. Attractiveness	0.180	0.109	0.072	0.217	0.131	0.086
20. Glamourous	0.098	0.043	0.055	0.174	0.048	0.126
21. Light direction	0.230	0.196	0.034	0.304	0.190	0.114
22. Exuberance	0.016	0.087	−0.071	0.043	0.048	−0.004
23. Affinity	0.033	0.022	0.011	0.000	0.036	−0.036
24. Mystique	0.246	0.239	0.007	0.217	0.250	−0.033
25. Liveliness	0.000	0.022	−0.022	0.000	0.012	−0.012
26. Punch	0.115	0.087	0.028	0.087	0.107	−0.020
27. Dynamicity	0.049	0.022	0.027	0.043	0.036	0.008
28. Tempting to imagine	0.377	0.217	0.160	0.391	0.286	0.106
29. Having world view	0.311	0.304	0.007	0.217	0.333	−0.116
30. Material texture	0.361	0.261	0.100	0.304	0.321	−0.017
31. Not here	0.033	0.043	−0.011	0.043	0.036	0.008

shows the ratio of which beauty evaluation items related to the artworks led buyers and non-buyers of art books and prints to reconsider social and environmental issues. As for the characteristics of “the artwork that made them reconsider the society and the environment”, a higher percentage of print purchasers and art book purchasers selected “Making sense” compared to non-purchasers. In other words, understanding the meaning of artwork may drive purchasing behavior. In particular, with regard to art book buyers, “Making sense”, “Tempting to imagine”, “Composition”, and “Material texture” were selected for a high percentage of the paintings as causing participants to reconsider social and environmental issues. In particular, with regard to print buyers, “Making Sense”, “Curiosity”, “Hopefulness”, “Illusions”, “Coloring”, and “Brilliance” were selected for a high percentage of the paintings as causing participants to reconsider social and environmental issues.

While 9.3% of the participants were completely visually oriented toward the artworks, they intended to use the narratives as a way to view the artworks the next time they visit the exhibition. This indicates that more exhibitions will encourage more people to pay attention to the background information of the artworks.

5.5. Regression Analysis of Viewers’ Attention to Social and Environmental Issues

The aim of the artist, by using paints made from waste materials of a particular region to paint pictures of the region’s future landscape 100 years from now, is to give viewers an opportunity to think about the future and to encourage them to look at current social and environmental issues by thinking about a sustainable future. We analyzed the impact of the paintings and the narratives behind them on participants’ interest in social and environmental issues and their imagination of the future.

To do so, we performed regression analysis. We assumed that the more viewers imagine the future and the more viewers pay attention to their lifestyle, the more viewers pay attention to social and environmental issues. Model 1 is as follows:

PSE(n) = C+a₁PMS(n) + a₂IM(n) + a₃IMSO + a₄IMSM + a₅IMSC + a₆DA + a₇DN + a₈DT

(1)

PSE(n): Paying attention to social and environmental issues because of the narrative;

C: Constant;

PMS(n): Paying attention to their own life because of the narrative;

IM(n): Imaging the future because of the narrative;

IMSO: Imaging future sounds;

IMSM: Imaging future smells;

IMSC: Imaging the future scenery;

DA: People who prefer appearance;

DN: People who prefer narrative;

DT: People who prefer technique.

• where PSE(n) is the sum of those who selected “It made me pay attention to social and environmental issues because of the background information”, C is a constant, PMS(n) is the sum of those who selected “It made me pay attention to my life because of the background information”, IM(n) is the sum of those who selected “I could imagine what it would be like 100 years from now because of narrative”, IMSO is the sum of those who selected “I could imagine sound what it would be like 100 years from now because of narrative”, IMSM is the sum of those who selected “I could imagine smell what it would be like 100 years from now because of narrative”, and IMSC is the sum of those who selected “I could imagine scenery what it would be like 100 years from now because of narrative”. DA, DN, and DT are dummy variables, where DA refers to people who prefer appearance, DN refers to people who prefer narrative, and DT refers to people who prefer technique.

Model 2 is as follows:

PSE(a) = C+a1PMS(a) + a2IM(a) + a3IMSO + a4IMSM + a5IMSC + a6DA + a7DN + a8DT

(2)

PSE(a): Paying attention to social and environmental issues because of appearance;

C: Constant;

PMS(a): Paying attention to their own life because of appearance;

IM(a): Imaging the future because of appearance;

IMSO: Imaging future sounds;

IMSM: Imaging future smells;

IMSC: Imaging the future scenery;

DA: People who prefer appearance;

DN: People who prefer narrative;

DT: People who prefer technique.

Table 5. Regression analysis of viewers paying attention to social and environmental issues (model 1).

Objective Variable
PSE(n): Paying Attention to Social and Environmental Issues Because of Narrative
Dependent Variable	No. 1	No. 2	No. 3	No. 4
	β	β	β	β
PMS(n)	0.438 ***	0.424 ***	0.372 ***	0.429 ***
IM(n)	0.372 ***	0.311 ***	0.216 *	–
IMSO	–	–	−0.102	−0.111
IMSM	–	–	−0.037	−0.047
IMSC	–	–	0.317 **	0.402 ***
DA	–	−0.050	−0.059	−0.052
DN	–	0.162 *	0.163 *	0.211 **
DT	–	−0.109	−0.101	−0.130
Adjusted R2	0.472 ***	0.492 ***	0.526 ***	0.500 ***

* p < 0.05, ** p< 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

presents the results of estimating four equations listed as No. 1 through No. 4. β indicates the standardized coefficient β. In all of the equations, the coefficients of the variables of PMS(n) were positive and significant. In No. 3 and No. 4, the coefficients of the variables of IMSC and DN were also positive and significant. The adjusted R² was relatively high for No. 3. PMS(n) and IM(n) could increase behavioral intention regarding paying attention to social and environmental issues. In terms of the assumptions for multiple linear regression analysis, multicollinearity tests were conducted to ensure the results, and no problem was found.

Table 6. Regression analysis of viewers paying attention to social and environmental issues (model 2).

Objective Variable
PSE(a): Paying Attention to Social and Environmental Issues Because of Appearance
Dependent Variable	No.1	No.2	No.3	No.4
	β	β	β	β
PMS(a)	0.512 ***	0.501 ***	0.509 ***	0.538 ***
IM(a)	0.362 ***	0.321 ***	0.294 ***	–
IMSO	–	–	−0.006	0.006
IMSM	–	–	−0.103	−0.099
IMSC	–	–	0.117	0.253 *
DA	–	−0.016	−0.022	−0.013
DN	–	0.130	0.130	0.188 *
DT	–	−0.051	−0.054	−0.093
Adjusted R2	0.533 ***	0.536 ***	0.530 ***	0.480 ***

* p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001.

presents the results of estimating four equations listed as No. 1 through No. 4. β indicates the standardized coefficient β. In all of the equations, the coefficients of the variables of PMS(a) were positively higher than those of model 1 and significant. The adjusted R² was higher for No. 3 compared to model 1. PMS(a) and IM(a) could increase behavioral intention regarding paying attention to social and environmental issues because of appearance.

Table 7. Regression analysis of viewers paying attention to social and environmental issues (models 1 and 2).

Objective Variable
Dependent Variable	PSE(n)				PSE(a)
	No. 1	No. 2	No. 3	No. 4	No. 5	No. 6	No. 7	No. 8
	β	β	β	β	β	β	β	β
PMS(n)	0.204 **	0.150	0.169	0.212 *	0.158	0.148	0.179	0.228
IM(n)	0.128	0.086	0.057	–	0.131	0.104	0.089	–
PMS(a)	0.270 *	0.307 **	0.285 *	0.290 **	0.371 **	0.378 **	0.378 **	0.385 **
IM(a)	0.307 **	0.288 **	0.245 *	–	0.251 *	0.235 *	0.225 *	–
IMSO	–	–	−0.123	−0.117	–	–	−0.009	−0.005
IMSM	–	–	−0.057	−0.061	–	–	−0.126	−0.131
IMSC	–	–	0.237 *	0.372 ***	–	–	0.111	0.250 *
DA	–	−0.090	−0.092	−0.080	–	0.004	0.001	0.013
DN	–	0.153 *	0.154 *	0.212 **	–	0.107	0.107	0.169 *
DT	–	−0.082	−0.085	−0.127	–	−0.061	−0.068	−0.112
Adjusted R2	0.529 ***	0.553 ***	0.567 ***	0.523 ***	0.541 ***	0.539 ***	0.535 ***	0.490 ***

* p <0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

presents the results of estimating eight equations listed as No. 1 through No. 8 based on a mix of models 1 and 2. As a result, both PMS(a) and IM(a) had an effect on both PSE(a) and PSE(n). This means that both paying attention to one’s own life and imaging the future because of the appearance of the artworks are important factors contributing to viewers paying attention to social and environmental issues.

It is said that future imagination is an important skill related to creativity [29]. It is also said that visual images can enhance narrative writing ability and creativity [30]. By viewing the artworks in this exhibition, not only the visual appearance of the future portrayed through the artwork but also participants’ imagination of the future had an effect on increasing behavioral intention related to paying attention to social and environmental issues.

5.6. Conscious Change and the Perception of Beauty

5.6.1. Beauty Evaluation Items for Paying Attention to Social and Environmental Issues by Viewing the Artworks

A total of 96.3% of all participants said that they paid attention to social and environmental issues by looking at the artworks. Figure 4 shows which of the beauty evaluation items were most frequently selected for the artworks by the participants. In order of frequency, these were material texture, having world view, tempting to imagine, making sense, vitality, illusions, and mystique. The most significant difference between those who made a purchase and those who did not was found in the factor of “making sense”. The beauty evaluation items that caused the participants to reconsider social and environmental issues were different.

5.6.2. Beauty Evaluation Items for Paying Attention to One’s Own Life by Viewing the Artworks

A total of 25.2% of all participants answered that “Paying attention to own life because of appearance” was very applicable, while 41.1% of all participants answered that it was somewhat applicable. For those who answered “very applicable”, the elements of “brilliance”, “Vitality”, “Having world view”, “Tempting to imagine”, and “Material texture” were the most important beauty evaluation items that made them reconsider social and environmental issues and their own lives when they saw what is expressed in the artworks. For those who answered “somewhat applicable”, the most important beauty evaluation items were “Illusions”, “Mystique”, “Having world view”, “Tempting to imagine”, and “Material texture”. When compared to the factors contributing to reconsideration of social and environmental issues, some differences were clearly founded. The beauty evaluation items selected for paying attention to one’s own life were characterized by “brilliance” and “Vitality”.

5.6.3. Beauty Evaluation Items for Imaging the Future Because of Appearance

In total, 56.0% of all participants answered that “imaging the future because of appearance” was very applicable, while 33.6% of all participants answered that it was somewhat applicable. For those who answered “very applicable”, the elements of “Having world view”, “Tempting to imagine”, “Material texture”, “Illusions”, and “Vitality” were the most important beauty evaluation items that made them reconsider social and environmental issues and imagine the future because of the artworks’ appearance when they saw what they expressed. For those who answered “somewhat applicable”, the beauty evaluation items selected were “Tempting to imagine”, “Material texture”, “Motifs Relationship”, and “Making sense”. When compared to the factors contributing to reconsideration of social and environmental issues, some differences were clearly founded. The beauty evaluation items selected for imaging the future because of the artworks’ appearance were characterized by “Illusions” and “Vitality”.

5.7. Case Studies of Changes in Consciousness Due to Viewing the Artworks

At the exhibition, we interviewed nine viewers about how their consciousness changed as a result of viewing the artworks, and extracted patterns of 28 different processes that led to changes in consciousness (

Table 8. The process of changing consciousness due to viewing the artworks.

(1) Interpretating	(1)-1 Sense	(1)-1-1 Emotional involvment
		(1)-1-2 Affecting emotion
		(1)-1-2 Affecting emotion
	(1)-2 Recognition	(1)-2-1 Comparing with own life
		(1)-2-2 Focusing on compositions
		(1)-2-3 Focusing on motifs
		(1)-2-4 Imaging the motifs more
		(1)-2-5 Knowing the meaning of light direction
		(1)-2-6 Thinking about other regions
		(1)-2-7 Observing the brightness
		(1)-2-8 Reborning as a painting
		(1)-2-9 Imaging blank slate
		(1)-2-10 Looking to the Future
		(1)-2-11 Observing nostalgia
		(1)-2-12 Thinking world view
		(1)-2-13 Observing the colors
		(1)-2-14 Feeling the closeness
		(1)-2-15 Observing reality
		(1)-2-16 Observing attractiveness
		(1)-2-17 Observing reality or non-reality
		(1)-2-18 Looking for hopefulness
(2) Helping observing other artworks
(3) Facing social and environmental issues
(4) Reconsidering daily life but no answer
(5) Willingness to visit where I have never been to
(6) Willingness to relax with the artworks
(7) Changing pace by the artworks
(8) Remembering the similar experience

). The viewers expressed that they (1) tried to interpret the artworks, (2) were helped by observing other artworks, (3) were confronted with social and environmental issues, (4) reconsidered daily life but reached no answer, (5) had the willingness to visit places they had never been to, (6) had the willingness to feel calm around the artworks, (7) changed their pace of life after viewing the artworks, and (8) remembered a similar experience.

Regarding (1), there were four more cases: (1)-1-1, where the participants tried to interpret the artworks via emotional involvement; (1)-1-2, where the participants were affected by emotions; (1)-1-3, where the participants felt curious due to empathy; and (1)-2, where they tried to interpret the artworks by thinking. Regarding (1)-2, there were cases in which the participants compared their own life ((1)-2-1), cases in which the participants focused on the compositions of the artworks ((1)-2-2), cases in which the participants focused on the motifs of the artworks ((1)-2-3), and cases in which the participants imagined the motifs more ((1)-2-4). A total of 14 of the 28 cases shown in Table 8 were related to the beauty evaluation items of the artworks, indicating that the viewers focused on the beauty of the artworks and attempted to interpret their meaning.

Cases not directly related to the beauty evaluation items of the artworks include those in (1)-2-1 where the viewer tried to compare himself/herself with the world in the artworks, compared the situation in other regions, looked into the future, and confronted social and environmental issues; all of these cases involved the participant thinking about their life and the relevant issues. In all cases, the participants’ thoughts went from the world of the artworks to their own world and other regions, from the past to the future, and they showed a change in consciousness, finding a connection between the artworks and the world of the artworks. These results are consistent with the results of the questionnaire.

6. Discussion

This study examines what elements of the beauty of artworks trigger individual creativity, imagination of the future, interest in social and environmental issues, reconsideration of personal lifestyles, and increased behavioral intentions. Creativity in this study refers to individual creativity, called Mini-c or Little-c [12].

Thirty beauty items were extracted to evaluate the beauty of the paintings, which included typical elements of beauty of paintings such as brightness and color quality, but also making sense, vitality, futuristic looking, exuberance, affinity, liveliness, tempting to imagine, and having world view. Paintings are not only about color and contrast, but also about making sense and offering a world view, aspects which are expressed through the art and affect people’s thoughts and emotions. The beauty of a painting is captured based on the concepts it expresses.

“Making sense” was a characteristic of the paintings that triggered people who adopted purchasing behavior in this study, such as purchasing art books and prints, to reconsider social and environmental issues. It is important for these people to keep the books and prints close to themselves. On the other hand, regardless of purchasing behavior, paintings that caused participants to reconsider social and environmental issues exhibited a strong explanatory power of more than 10% for the components vigorous, realistic, and colorful, according to the results of principal component analysis. “Making sense” had a large factor loading in the sixth factor, rustic, but its explanatory power was relatively low, at 7.749%. This can be said to be characteristic of the tendency of people who adopt purchasing behavior to reconsider social and environmental issues when they see a painting and understand its meaning. The 30 extracted beauty evaluation items would be more insightful if they were classified into broader conceptual categories, such as the components vigorous, realistic, and colorful.

The beauty of paintings seems to have the power not only to impact purchasing behavior, making people want to keep their purchases close at hand, but also to encourage them to reconsider their own lives and to imagine the future. Mitchell et al. (2017) suggested that creativity is often depicted as something for “creative people” [20]. However, creative problem-solving characteristics, such as divergence and convergence, are essential to creating a sustainable future [20]. In this study, people who viewed the paintings also imagined the future, consolidating their thoughts with past social and environmental issues, and reconsidering the process of self-reflection, which is an important process in the search for solutions to enhance sustainability. This may have led them to shift their purchasing behavior toward purchasing products related to paintings.

In many of the case studies, after viewing a painting, participants went through the process of comparing it to their own situation, and in many cases, they subjectively reconsidered their own lives rather than trying to understand the painting objectively. As indicated in Section 5.6.2, the difference between those who reconsidered their lives and those who reconsidered their lives somewhat is reflected in the difference in the beauty elements of the paintings that impacted them. For those who strongly reconsidered their lives, “brilliance” and “vitality” were two of the elements that led them to reconsider social and environmental issues, while for those who somewhat reconsidered their lives, “Illusions” and “Mystique” were the elements that led them to reconsider social and environmental issues. “Tempting to imagine”, “having world view”, and “material texture” were the three elements of beauty that commonly impacted many people. The material of the paint not only adds beauty to the painting, but, like prehistoric techniques [23], has the effect of conveying to the viewer that the origin of the material has meaning. The artist’s technique of using waste materials from a particular region to make paints certainly sends a message to the viewer about the social and environmental issues of the region. The viewers were informed in advance that the paintings used in this study were painted by the artist imagining the region 100 years in the future. On this basis, 89.6% of the participants imagined the future when they saw what was represented in the paintings, and 56% of the participants found the paintings to be very applicable to what they imagined the future to be. “Illusions” and “Vitality” contributed to reconsidering social and environmental issues. These are elements of beauty that enhance one’s imagination of the future. They are similar to, but not exactly the same as, the elements that encourage people to reconsider their own lives. Different beauty elements impact people’s thinking in different ways.

However, it was not shown that the beauty evaluation items of the paintings necessarily directly changed their thinking. The results only indicate which items of beauty impacted those who thought in such a way as to reconsider social and environmental issues. What we found through the multiple regression analysis in this study is that the paintings themselves caused people to reconsider social and environmental issues because they became interested in their own lives or imagined the future, rather than because of the background information of the paintings. The effect of the term “background information” alone was limited, and the artistry of the paintings triggered a reconsideration of social and environmental issues. The paintings themselves made people interested in their own lives or imagine the future, which in turn caused them to reconsider social and environmental issues after learning about the background information of the paintings, indicating that the artistry of the paintings enhanced the effect of the background information of the paintings. This means that the artistry of the paintings directly and indirectly caused people to reconsider social and environmental issues. As mentioned before, the process of lifestyle design for creating a sustainable society [6] has a similar structure. The first step is to use trusted national data across seven environmental risk areas and to set the conditions of future environmental constraints. This is the same process as “Tempting to imagine” the future shown in these paintings. The second step is to discuss what kind of social and environmental conditions might occur in the future under these environmental constraints. This is the same process as “having world view”. The third step is to look critically at current lifestyles and innovations and pinpoint those that will become problematic under future environmental constraints. This is the same process as reconsidering their own lives.

Individual creativity was prominently demonstrated in the case studies. All of the 21 cases in which the participants attempted to interpret the paintings after viewing them used their own creativity (Table 8). Among them, 14 of the 28 cases in which the participants focused on the beautiful parts of the paintings and tried to find their meanings involved the process of using one’s own creativity inspired by the beauty of the artwork. In other words, the process of viewing paintings in this study was one of using creativity, imagining the future, raising interest in social and environmental issues, and reconsidering personal lifestyles.

The beauty factor of the paintings was found to have the potential to trigger the first step toward lifestyle change.

7. Conclusions

The purpose of this study was to analyze how the background information of artworks and future landscape paintings of a particular region 100 years from now, painted with paints and binders made from waste materials of the region, affect viewers’ awareness and behavioral intentions regarding social and environmental issues.

First, to develop constructs of the paintings’ beauty, 30 beauty evaluation items were created using the repertory grid analysis. Then, we asked participants to view the artworks, painted with paints and binders made from waste materials of the region, on the theme of social and environmental issues at an exhibition, allowing us to determine the impact of the background information behind the painting and the landscape itself on participants’ imagination of the future and their behavioral intentions.

The results showed that viewing paintings with background information and paints made from waste materials of the region improved participants’ behavioral intentions and their ability to imagine the future, as well as to reconsider themselves and social and environmental issues. The elements of beauty of the paintings were found to have the potential to increase sustainability by encouraging an emotional and spontaneous first step toward lifestyle change, even for those who are not oriented toward social and environmental issues.