Artist Statement
Painting self-portrait is to depict the most familiar motif to the artist. I think that is why a self-portrait not only expresses the image of the artist but also the ‘cosmos’ around him/her.
I paint self-portrait because it allows me to capture a world that carries most reality about myself. The ideas for my work are inspired by laughter and discovery in daily life. It is important for me to capture those moments and carefully put into my canvas. When doing so, there seems to be a battle going on between the part of me that looks at myself only as a familiar face, and another part with the eyes of an artist looking objectively at myself as a subject matter.
I think a great deal of textures and detailed expressions. I am very interested in the surface of things and carefully observe textures such as of human skin and surface of mushrooms. In order to express these textures, I pile up oil colors on my canvas over and over again. I rub the paints with my hands, and use various kinds of brushes to describe each downy hair. In spending hours for this process, my own ‘skin color’ is born. I aim to bring the warm feeling of body temperature into the canvas, and express the look of blood vessels showing through underneath the skin and the touch of springy flesh.
Painting is my communication tool that sends out messages about myself. The toys and characters scattered around my canvas are one of the main elements that constructs my ‘cosmos’. At the same time, they are also the icons and images that can be shared by others. Those characters in my work are familiar and belong to a certain generation. I want to build up moments that connect to those people’s memories, which are not yet ready to be forgotten. I would also like to develop a communication not only through vision but also through sound, smell, and feeling.
For me, making art work is a way to observe myself both objectively and subjectively. Painting makes me discover emotions and ideals within me that I wasn’t aware before. I want to make paintings that also have surprises to the people looking at my work and have the feel like when opening a present.
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