This is the first piece I made from this body of work.
It's made from old paper, rope, washi, mattress foam and paint fragments that, over time,
naturally bubbled and started peeling from a favorite wall I often pass in Osaka.
After ripping the peeling paper from the wall and taking it back to my studio, I discovered
layer behind layer behind layer of different colors, patterns and textures.
There is at play here a certain dichotomy which is common throughout my work. The
relationships of light and dark, warm and cool, harmony and tension, preservation and
destruction and mobility and stability are contrary forces that are actually complementary
and interconnected. These dualities are the main principles of yin yang. We couldn't truly
understand or describe something unless we had its opposite to compare it to. We wouldn't
understand "light" without "dark." Nor we would understand that cold is cold or hot is hot.
Without something to compare to, most things would just become, "is." They would be hard
to define, Could you define "happy" without using "sad" and could you define "big" without
using "small?" I'm sure it's possible in some ways but opposites help us define things and
express feelings and emotions.
As an artist I most often use opposites to create my artwork because I find that that helps
bring a certain balance or grounding that I'm looking for. It's discipline. It's structure.
That's my composition. It's creating organized chaos, if you will. I think in this artwork you
can see all of those elements at play and working together.
Continental 13
16.5 x 24.5cm
2016
It's made from old paper, rope, washi, mattress foam and paint fragments that, over time,
naturally bubbled and started peeling from a favorite wall I often pass in Osaka.
After ripping the peeling paper from the wall and taking it back to my studio, I discovered
layer behind layer behind layer of different colors, patterns and textures.
There is at play here a certain dichotomy which is common throughout my work. The
relationships of light and dark, warm and cool, harmony and tension, preservation and
destruction and mobility and stability are contrary forces that are actually complementary
and interconnected. These dualities are the main principles of yin yang. We couldn't truly
understand or describe something unless we had its opposite to compare it to. We wouldn't
understand "light" without "dark." Nor we would understand that cold is cold or hot is hot.
Without something to compare to, most things would just become, "is." They would be hard
to define, Could you define "happy" without using "sad" and could you define "big" without
using "small?" I'm sure it's possible in some ways but opposites help us define things and
express feelings and emotions.
As an artist I most often use opposites to create my artwork because I find that that helps
bring a certain balance or grounding that I'm looking for. It's discipline. It's structure.
That's my composition. It's creating organized chaos, if you will. I think in this artwork you
can see all of those elements at play and working together.
Continental 13
16.5 x 24.5cm
2016
