Artist Statement

I have titled my first solo exhibition at FUMA Contemporary Tokyo as "Lay Your Hands On Me." Since my student days, I have been consistently creating works with human figures as motifs. This began with "an interest in human existence." After starting from my own inner world, which is familiar to me, in recent years, my interest has shifted to "the distance between self and others" and "changes of people within a society." In "Lay Your Hands On Me," a work with the same title as that of the exhibition, I sculpted a figure embracing a down quilt. This down quilt does not have a form that I find "beautiful." I dared to adopt an imbalance as a three-dimensional object that I have not incorporated in my previous works, such as an abrupt change of shape and an unstable balance of volume. The figure embracing such uncertainty is the key to the composition of this work. I wanted to find something different by experiencing an unusual process, starting from a foundation that was different from the sculptural sense and perspective of things I had cultivated. I worked on my production this time in order to find a new path. I have not yet been able to clearly verbalize what that new path is, and I do not have an answer that I can offer. However, I hope that you will be able to sense through my works the feelings I have put into the title "Lay Your Hands On Me."