I believe in the experiential alchemy of art by which one can transform life’s lead into fool’s gold. I also believe that limitation can become strength.
My experiences as a half-Japanese and the lifelong reality of walking cultural margins, whether growing up in Kansas, teaching in Japan, or pushing paper for a Japanese Corporation in New York inform how I think, what I do, and the art I make.
My work involves ideas about nature vs. nurture, business vs. war (or business as war), socioeconomics, science, multiculturalism, values and belief systems.
In addition to making more involved work in the studio, I also draw on the train every day. The subway is my mobile studio and cultural classroom, with all of New York teaching me. It is my daily ritual of unspoken communication and appreciation. Even though I never draw anyone around me, they inevitably inform the work.
Whether on the train or in the studio, making art is part of a lifelong search for something that I can’t quite grasp and probably never will. And I hope I never do, because it’s all about the journey, not the destinations.