I started this body of work called Urbanology around early spring 2017.
It naturally evolved from other artwork that I was making at the same time and
those artworks were predominantly made from peeled wall fragments and wall
posters. The shape of those artworks is organic and because of the shape and
the materials used to make them, they look quite geographical or even at times
topographical.
The artworks here are also made from wall fragments and wall posters, and, in
addition, graffiti stickers peeled from walls and telephone poles around Osaka.
These collage and assemblages however are not organic but rather geometric
in shape. They are small and compact and there is a sense of explosive energy
bursting out from them. This at times is a result of the colors used but more a
result of the composition and how I arranged the wall fragments with overlapping
and inverted graffiti stickers. The graphic and gestural nature of the graffiti is
calligraphic and those lines control the speed of the viewers eye throughout the
artwork. They speed up and slow down. They tell you to stop and look here.
They link one area to another. They are working as a traffic cop, so to speak.
There is also a deliberate and balanced use of complimentary colors as well as
primary colors, something not really seen in my work for over 15 years. As with
all of my artworks however, there is a certain dichotomy that is common
throughout them and I combine objects that at times seem like they couldn't
possibly work together. I use light and dark, warm and cool, harmony and
tension, preservation and destruction and movement and stability to create
harmony from this dichotomy.
SAKURA
27.2 x 22 cm
Mixed Media
2018
It naturally evolved from other artwork that I was making at the same time and
those artworks were predominantly made from peeled wall fragments and wall
posters. The shape of those artworks is organic and because of the shape and
the materials used to make them, they look quite geographical or even at times
topographical.
The artworks here are also made from wall fragments and wall posters, and, in
addition, graffiti stickers peeled from walls and telephone poles around Osaka.
These collage and assemblages however are not organic but rather geometric
in shape. They are small and compact and there is a sense of explosive energy
bursting out from them. This at times is a result of the colors used but more a
result of the composition and how I arranged the wall fragments with overlapping
and inverted graffiti stickers. The graphic and gestural nature of the graffiti is
calligraphic and those lines control the speed of the viewers eye throughout the
artwork. They speed up and slow down. They tell you to stop and look here.
They link one area to another. They are working as a traffic cop, so to speak.
There is also a deliberate and balanced use of complimentary colors as well as
primary colors, something not really seen in my work for over 15 years. As with
all of my artworks however, there is a certain dichotomy that is common
throughout them and I combine objects that at times seem like they couldn't
possibly work together. I use light and dark, warm and cool, harmony and
tension, preservation and destruction and movement and stability to create
harmony from this dichotomy.
SAKURA
27.2 x 22 cm
Mixed Media
2018
