NEVER MIND

FRP, oil, oil base paint, acrylic

This is a teddy bear sculpture.

This work was based on my original teddy bear, which was created over a five-year period from 2018-2023.

The flowers fall, the curtain closes and light of youth fades away, but experiences and memories are always there, beyond time and space, presented in the culture and motifs of the work's background.

I am of the Lost Generation. My exposure to the afterglow of the bubble economy and the glitz of MTV during my impressionable years led me to study the relationship between Pop Art, Japan and the US, and the expanding concept of sculpture, as my view of art is Pop Art.

This is why I use plastic, a material that represents mass consumption and mass production, as the main material for my engravings. I loved the kitschy lightness of plastic, no matter how serious the subject matter, but I also found it to be a material that t reflected my teenage years and the process of my decade as a sculptor.

I always start by exploring materials that fit the image of the artwork, and now that I am experimenting with other new materials, this piece has become my signature artwork with plastic.

The artwork echoes the atmosphere of the times following the coronavirus pandemic, and the title echoes the famous vinyl.

Existence gap.

They look soft, but are cold and hard to the touch. Behind the apparent loveliness lies a sharp counterculture.

Sight and touch, reality and imagination may differ, but both are correct.

The warmth and fluffiness of a teddy bear and the gloss and texture of a leather jacket within a single mass is the culmination of my tried and tested techniques for using plastic in my artwork.

Creation process - image of prototype

I make a teddy bear out of fluffy fake fur, then dress it with a jacket made from clay to create a prototype, mould it in silicone, mould it in FRP and colour it. Due to the creation of the mould, the prototype is no longer available, so there is currently only one original. ( The image below shows the prototype.)

Creation process - image of prototype

This is an image of the creation process of making a teddy bear.

Creation process - image of prototype