Motoi yamamoto biography

Return to The Sea Project. Born in Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture in Graduated from Kanazawa College of Art in Currently living in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. I create installations using salt to evoke cleansing and purification. It takes me anywhere from a few days to multiple weeks to draw these huge patterns on the floor by myself.

Furthermore, on the last day of an exhibition, I work together with the viewers to destroy the work and return the salt to the sea. I also produce detailed acrylic and pencil works. In recent years, I have worked very actively on collaborations with companies. What books, music, art, etc are particularly resonating with you right now? I try to spend as much time as possible to be in nature and to try new things in my daily life.

Days go by pretty quickly between spending time with my daughter and working on creating artwork. Looking at your labyrinth works, I immediately see sea foam, hurricanes, sea fans, and brain coral. As you can see, even a giant labyrinth is formed as a result of very small repetitive patterns. Small repetitive work shaping the final piece of work is the common theme throughout my artwork.

What are your bucket list locations where you would love to do a saltwork? My goal is to keep creating, and the location of where I do it is not as important as the act of creation itself. That would be absolutely fantastic. So, Charleston is now on my bucket list! HICA Please leave this field blank. In the winter of , my sister who was 24 years old passed away because of malignant brain tumor.

I began creating my artwork so that I could accept and over come her death. I tried different materials such as earth, wood, paper, glass with themes like terminal care, criterion of death, as well as heart sutra. In the fall of , when I was working on an artwork about funerals, I came up with the idea to use salt. I made a salt bed, a deathbed, and exhibited it outdoors but a typhoon melted it and it dissolved back to earth during the exhibition.

Have you ever thought to replace it with something else? For many years, I have been attached to salt very strongly. But even with those feelings, salt is merely a material. There is always a possibility that I might use some other materials for installations in the future. What I like to realize through my artwork is to re-encounter precious memories of people who passed away, and salt is merely a method to make that dream come true.

You need a lot of time to complete a salt opera, time that you spend sitting on the ground drawing. You need to concentrate and be extremely focused. How do you manage to keep that focus and what do you think about? It is true. The Fukuoka earthquake of was generated two days after the opening of the exhibition. The installation was unsettled and fell to the ground in a disruptive and poetic manner.

In you received the prestigious Philip Morris Art Award, an arts competition for artists based in South East Asian Nations that emphasizes cohesive bodies of work from a singular artist. The following year you received the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc. How did these impressive achievements affect you and your work? Did these prove to be artistic as well as creative milestones in your career?

They gave me confidence and courage. When I was young, I doubted those effects. However, I did not have confidence and I contradicted it. I thank them now for their encouragement and support very sincerely.

Motoi yamamoto biography

In your opinion, what is the most powerful or effective instigating factor for creativity and for reaching the viewer? The power comes from a way of life and a heart of people. And, it is a mountain and a brook, the sea and a forest. As we depart from the company of your company, are there any parting thoughts or wishes that you would like to share with the readers and young artists of the world?

Teens, please think about only your creative voice. And, I think that the artist should have such a freedom as necessary to speak with freedom and passion. Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , Youtube , Tumblr. The New Contemporary Art Magazine. Some of our past articles may not have images. Click here to see those that do. December 5, Nathan Spoor. As you approach a new work or concept, how do you begin the journey?

Could you please tell us a little more about these labyrinths? Related Articles. Bender Gallery , new contemporary art. January 15, We are living in even stranger times.