When I picked up a Mr.Children album at age 14, I realized I could have my own thoughts about the “world” and express them—and I strongly wanted to make music. Unable to tell anyone, I bought a dance book instead of an instrument and started dancing with school friends the very next day. This was why I aimed for a movie-like youth. Entering an art university with a film major, I started drawing by copying others and discovered it connected to childhood memories. Around that time, I became aware of the city as a world and began aiming for it. I’m interested in time and space that change with living movement.
Born in 1994. Completed doctoral studies at Musashino Art University Graduate School. Creates works using lithography based on moods absorbed from encountered landscapes. Constructs fragmentary images by layering the surface quality and irreversibility of the plate with information derived from perception. Recently interested in transitional landscapes.
Kanoko Takaya is an artist based in Bali. Through organic forms that invite touch and the exploration of diverse materials, she investigates the relationship between the human body, emotions, and self-discovery. She relocated to Bali in 2016 and began creating work focused on personal introspection and self-discovery. In this process, she incorporates diverse materials as a medium for self-expression, attempting to transcend the boundaries between painting and sculpture through endless experimentation and unconventional use of techniques. Characterized by curves and textures reminiscent of the human form, her work evokes a sense of familiarity and intimacy in the viewer.
Ceramic artist/Artist. Born in 1997 in Nagasaki Prefecture, Sakamoto Kai graduated with a BA in mixed media from Kyoto University of Art and Design (today Kyoto University of the Arts) in 2019. He has been a member of the shared studio Yamanaka Suplex since the same year. Using the fundamental actions and elements inherent in ceramics—such as clay, fire, and eating—as starting points, he creates works through ceramics, video, workshops, and other mediums.
He finds fascination in moments when the boundary between reality and illusion blurs, creating works through various mediums like drawing, clothing, and tapestries. Using local plants and flowers, childhood memories, and myths from around the world as my guides, he weaves new stories through art.
Born in Miyakojima City, Okinawa Prefecture, in 1994. She attempts to decipher and share with others those “suggestive things”—things she “can’t quite explain, but intuitively know are important”—through imagery. In recent years, her work has centered around the image of an “angry merman banging on a table.”
Forager, designer, and printer. Based in Yamagata Prefecture, he creates works that incorporate fieldwork and prototyping. Recent examples include Foraged Colors, a development project that aims to create colors from materials collected from the sea and mountains and to implement them in modern society, as well as ultra-specialized printing. He enjoys foraging and identifying mushrooms.
