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ONE BITE CHALLENGE AFTER CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) Series
ONE BITE CHALLENGE AFTER CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)(Norina/age 74/Female/April 18, 2020)2020, acrylic on canvas, velvet, 12 × 12 inches (30 × 30 cm)
ONE BITE CHALLENGE AFTER CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)(John/age 61/Male/April 18, 2020)2020, acrylic on canvas, velvet, 12 × 12 inches (30 × 30 cm)
ONE BITE CHALLENGE AFTER CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)(Jayson/age 49/Male/April 18, 2020)2020, acrylic on canvas, velvet, 12 × 12 inches (30 × 30 cm)
ONE BITE CHALLENGE AFTER CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)(Denette/age 46/Female/March 21, 2020)2020, acrylic on canvas, velvet, 12 × 12 inches (30 × 30 cm)
ONE BITE CHALLENGE AFTER CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)(Tracy/age 58/Female/March 21, 2020)2020, acrylic on canvas, velvet, 12 × 12 inches (30 × 30 cm)
ONE BITE CHALLENGE AFTER CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)(Marisela/age 21/Female/March 21, 2020)2020, acrylic on canvas, velvet, 12 × 12 inches (30 × 30 cm)Private Collection
Concept behind the "ONE BITE CHALLENGE AFTER CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)" Series
The novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019, spread throughout the world at the start of 2020, and has finally reached the stage of being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Many countries have banned foreigners from entering. The United States has stopped issuing visas throughout the world, essential business has been interrupted, retail stores and restaurants have had their business reduced – the impact of which is set to overtake the 2008 financial crisis in terms of severity. In addition, in March this year, a stay at home order was instituted for the whole state of California, and the situation has become increasingly chaotic.
This piece is basically an alternative version of my work "ONE BITE CHALLENGE" in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Here, I as an artist, was sharing one bite each of a hamburger with Los Angeles's homeless population in an attempt to share their plight, but since the coronavirus outbreak, this act now carries with it a different meaning. If I get close to them, there is a threat of me getting infected, and the reverse is also possible.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised people to maintain a distance of six feet from each other. But it was already rare for people to get close to homeless people, and even more so in this situation. Even if the government forces people to stay home, they don't have anywhere to stay. There are worries over a cluster infection occurring. The virus does not care if you're rich or poor. Ironically, that makes it impossible to ignore their existence.
I don't regard this as a temporary situation here. Due to this unprecedented crisis, all that has happened is that the warped structure of the world has been revealed. For example, wanting the homeless to disinfect their hands, and wear rubber gloves and masks may be out of good will, but this reflects the sense of avoiding those unsanitary people that can be seen rather than the invisible virus. The absolute distance between them and the general public has unexpectedly been laid bare and exposed.
I have embodied this situation. Unlike with my previous work, I have cut the hamburgers in half, and then we each take one bite of them. Along with symbolizing the separated relationships caused by this unknown infection, this is also an attempt to be humane by lowering the risk of either of us getting infected. Next, the hamburger's two halves are combined in a picture and restored as an image. This is a metaphor for the politicians and specialists who have made an empty call for solidarity in an effort to resolve this situation. Lastly, a notch is inserted into the completed work and to once again become physically separated. No matter how it is smoothed over, the reality is that it has been completely torn apart.
Everything becomes suspicious in the light of an invisible threat. Panic buying and acts of violence occur, and disturbingly, guns are also being sold. I don't know what we'll bring about in this frightening and uncertain situation, but there is one thing I'll say here. It is impossible for us to go back to how things were before the coronavirus.
Addition May 7, 2020: The temperature of both the artist and homeless person are measured, and written down for each hamburger. Before who we are as people, I believe we are being treated as anonymous beings right now – carrier or non-carrier.
Photographing elements for the "ONE BITE CHALLENGE AFTER CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)" series
Japans traditional bento has gained worldwide popularity due to its minimalistic style. I think it represents the nominal way of life.
Let's Eat, Everyone
There are rich, there are poor. Cutting a cake into pieces symbolizes the redistribution of wealth.
ONE BITE CHALLENGE
Share bites of the same hamburger with a homeless person. That would help lead to understanding and accepting between us.
ONE BITE CHALLENGE AFTER CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)
Share bites of a hamburger with a homeless man and we will use a sanitizer and masks. It depicts the distance between each other.
People feel that they can't avoid GMO foods. This conveys the anxiety that everyone experiences due to the lack of transparency about it.
Using animal cookie cutters, I cut out ground meat in their shape. What barbaric things are there today?
Pain Pain Go Away
There is a contradiction that I'll reveal about animal protection. Raw meat is a animal wound and must be treated by placing a bandage
I Love USA
I simply turned the hamburger upside down, because this is the way to question what America means to the Japanese.
Cannabis-Shaped Sweet Buns
I dropped a cannabis tincture on buns. Whether this would be illegal or not depends on the country. This satirizes the globalism.
Today's Meal
I blended daily meals into a paste and then shaped them to resemble the whipped cream that I take photos of.
The number of abortions over the past 100 years exceeds 1 billion. Ask the pros and cons of abortion by removing apple cores.
Cooking Leather
I treat leather items such as belts and bags as ingredients, to be used in a type of cuisine. The aim is to show how hunger and gluttony can co-exist.
Paste Abstraction
The first food humans eat after birth is liquid. Yet, when closer to death, we eat the same type of food. It's representative of life and death.
This is embodiment of conflict between ethnic groups. As various foods are boiled up, hence the phrase racial melting pot.
Keep Frozen
I am attempting to express modern real-life by showing melting ice cream at room temperature.
Mountains of Meals from CVS
If we collect these discarded convenience store bento meals and pile them up, they will form a mountain.
Double Flag
This is a combination of Japanese and Singaporean history. A Japanese flag stuck into everyday Singaporean meals. Is this art or is it a political issue?
Japanize!
Japanese people are prejudice to foreigners. This can be portrayed by the proportions of the Japanese flag.
Beef bowl Waterfall
The situation of modern eating habits: Gyudon(Beef Bowl) falls furiously into the public's stomachs, is painted like a natural waterfall.
Cup Noodles Waterfall
The situation of modern eating habits: Instant Noodles falls furiously into the public's stomachs, is painted like a natural waterfall.
Installation/Three-Dimensional Works
These installation works are painings as well as three dimensional works which use food containers and so on.
These art works are from 2001 to currently showing my experiments with stencil, lacquer and oil etc.
Photographing elements for the works
My work method is actually taking photos of real food. These photos are drafts for the painting I will make.
Artist Portfolio(PDF)
You can see an overview of my artworks in this PDF file.
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