Bye.icon

This is a new series that combines UV relief printing with acrylic painting. I have named these small 15 cm square canvas works the “.icon” series. Based on the idea that all things—mountains, rivers, plants, and trees—can attain Buddhahood, I depict a wide range of subjects, including Buddhist imagery, flowers, and digital devices.

When I turned on the computer, it would display “Hello.” For a while, that felt like a kind of password to enter the digital world. When the internet first connected, it was “Hello, World.” But everyone has grown tired now. I understand the urge to say “bye.” At the very least, I’d hope for “goodbye,” but it feels like we can’t even say “good” anymore. Still, there may be a kind of good maturity. Perhaps delicious mushrooms are growing somewhere. What if digital devices became cordyceps? Cordyceps embodies reincarnation. The seasons are reincarnation. “Bye” is not an ending—it is everything disappearing once more, only to cycle again.