Collaboration with ISAMU KATAYAMA BACKLASH/2023
Original painting for T-shirt print
Paint on a leather
Paint on a leather jacket
Title : Painting on a BACKLASH
collaboration with ISAMU KATAYAMA BACKLASH
Medium : Paint on a leather jacket
Created : 2023
I painted on a leather jacket by Isamu Katayama BACKLASH.
This project began with a conversation with Isamu Katayama. When I said, “I want to do something interesting,” he replied, “Express your art on this leather jacket.”
This project began with a conversation with Isamu Katayama. When I said, “I want to do something interesting,” he replied, “Express your art on this leather jacket.”
The project evolved from painting directly on the leather jacket, to painting on leather itself, and eventually developed into a printed design for T-shirts.
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Collaboration with Alice Morishita/2021
Title : Jam Session
collaboration with Alice Morishita
Medium : Acrylic, charcoal, pastel, pencil on canvas
Created : 2021
This series is a collaborative project with Alice Morishita.
2 artists, 1 canvas.
The main idea of this project was to really enjoy the creation process without limiting each other. Being ALIVE in the moment. As artists, when we create we tend to have likes and dislikes. But can we put all of that aside, and create one painting solely with the focus on enjoying the process?
So we started this project.
We were going to bring in any media one wanted to try or experiment with. The idea was to accept what the other artist wanted to do and to build on it. Focus on communicating visually on canvas. It was a way to put our egos, and techniques aside and to be present as two artists on one canvas. We were not allowed to talk the other one into or out of doing something. So during the process, there was very little talking. We painted with flow and harmony. And we finished the painting when both of us felt like it was done. This whole process came together so harmoniously. Just like music, it was as if we were having a jam session together. We hear each other and build on it, without the use of words, just visually.
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Collaboration with Chikara Aoshima /2021
Title : Like a circle
collaboration with Chikara Aoshima
Medium : Video
Time : 6min 16sec
Created : 2021
I created an image video for the song "Like a Circle" by Berlin-based musician Chikara Aoshima.
Title : Take your time
collaboration with Chikara Aoshima
Medium : Video
Time : 4min 6sec
Created : 2021
Berlin-based musician Chikara Aoshima has released an EP on RaRaRa Records in Barcelona.
I created the video for the song “Take Your Time.”
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Collaboration with AMBEREBMA, Alice Morishita /2020
Title : Amberebma
collaboration with Amberebma, Alice Morishita
Medium : Ink on paper with photo collage
Created : 2020
I created campaign images for the leather bag brand AMBEREBMA from Amsterdam,
the Netherlands, together with Alice.
As the world changes, people feel more distant, and warmth between us is fading. We are connected to the world through the internet from inside our homes. The beautiful people we see on our phone screens—are they really real? It feels like we are living in a time where “reality” is more lost than ever.
Norikoyosii, who runs the brand, said that the images created by Alice and me have warmth that comes from human hands, and that you can feel something real in them. I think this is the core idea of this campaign.
We made a short making-of video showing how the images were created.
The music in the video is by Berlin-based musician Chikara Aoshima.
If you like, please watch it at the link below.
The music in the video is by Berlin-based musician Chikara Aoshima.
If you like, please watch it at the link below.
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Collaboration with Chikara Aoshima /2020
Title : Rhythm of water
Painting in collaboration with Chikara Aoshima
Medium : Video
Time : 6min 3sec
Created : 2020
This is a collaboration with Berlin-based musician Chikara Aoshima.
The music is made from field recordings of lakes in Berlin.
I created a new video by layering and distorting my images, inspired by the flow of water.
The video is available at the link below.
The music is made from field recordings of lakes in Berlin.
I created a new video by layering and distorting my images, inspired by the flow of water.
The video is available at the link below.
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Collaboration with Alice Morishita /2019
Title : Ganzi
Painting in collaboration with Alice Morishita
Medium : Ink, Acrylic, Coffee, Thangka pigment Thread on Canvas
Size : w70 x 90cm (27.56" x 35.43")
Created : 2019
In 2019, I traveled with my partner and fellow artist, Alice Morishita, to Garzê, a Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Sichuan Province, China, to carry out a 21-day project creating art in collaboration with local artists.
After working in the high-altitude environment of Garzê, located at 3,500 meters above sea level, we also held an exhibition in Chengdu, China.
After returning to Berlin, Germany, Alice and I reflected on the experience—what we learned and what we felt—and expressed it through a collaborative art project.
After working in the high-altitude environment of Garzê, located at 3,500 meters above sea level, we also held an exhibition in Chengdu, China.
After returning to Berlin, Germany, Alice and I reflected on the experience—what we learned and what we felt—and expressed it through a collaborative art project.
Footage of the creative process in Garzê can be viewed on YouTube via the link below.
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Collaboration with Hendrik Willemyns (Arsenal) /2019
Hendrik Willemyns from the Belgian band Arsenal had put together a poetry book called "Room of Imaginary Creatures" which is a collection of poems written by musicians and poets as part of a project that researches the connection between music, poetry and prostitution. Each poem comes with an illustration and I participated with 5 of my illustrations. I did the illustrations for lyrics sang by the American singer Johnny Whitney (ex: The Blood Brothers).
The poetry collection "Room Of Imaginary Creatures" can be purchased from the following website.
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Collaboration with Yuta Kumachi /2017
Title : #3
Collaboration of short film with Yuta Kumachi
Director, Cinematography, Film Editing by KENSUKE SAITO
Music by YUTA KUMACHI
Time : 11min 53sec
Created : 2017
---- ABOUT FILM #3 CONCEPT ----
I was born in Tokyo and grew up there, but 4 years ago in 2015, I moved to Berlin.
Nature and lakes had never been so close to me in my life before.
As I spent more time at the lake, I began to realize the multiple expressions the nature held.
I began to feel a big wave of life and rhythm through the lake. I also felt a sense of mysticism through it.
I tried to capture the rich expressions the nature held, using the camera and filming the lake.
However, unfortunately it turned out very even and flat. It felt very lifeless, and tasteless.
Later on I returned to the lake to compare the difference between the filmed lake and the real one in front of me.
The real lake had irregularities. It was unpredictable yet rich with its natural rhythms.
The camera on the other hand can only film with the fixed rhythm you set at the beginning.
When you film the lake with a fixed setting, so much of the beauty falls through the fingers like quicksand. The rhythm of the lake is not fixed. In times it flows calmly, and in times it flows faster.
In order to capture the rich expressions of the lake itself, instead of capturing it as a film,
I decided to take sequence of photographs to create a flow using each picture.
I tried to manually put it together in order to create a big beautiful flow.
I felt that this was the best way to capture the rich expression the nature held.