Yoshitoshi Kanemaki's Sculptures Sport Kaleidoscopic Expressions in Their Search for a 'True Self'

"Yoshitoshi Kanemaki is no stranger to human emotions, imbuing his playful sculptures with not one but several expressions all at once. The Tokyo-based artist is known for his "glitched" sculptures carved from single pieces of timber, and in his ongoing current series Prism, he continues to explore the nature of distortion, reflection, and self-consciousness."

""The word 'insight' carries the meaning of seeing into the essence of things with clarity, while 'prism' metaphorically refers to elucidating what is complex," Kanemaki says. Through a fragmented triangular motif, he highlights warped features that refract, separate, and reassemble-much like the ever-evolving nature of human consciousness and social interactions. Insight Prism marks the artist's first solo exhibition in two years, presenting the largest sculpture he's yet created in the Prism series-the namesake of the show."

"Kanemaki delves into the multiple roles we all play in our daily lives, switching between different versions of ourselves to contend with different situations or environments. While such shifts can be seen as a necessary social manner to keep life running smoothly, there are times when we lose the vision of our "true self."... The idea for my new sculptures began with the question: What might the form of searching for one's "true self" look like?"

Yoshitoshi Kanemaki carves single pieces of timber into 'glitched' sculptures that layer multiple facial expressions and fragmented forms. The Prism series examines distortion, reflection, and self-consciousness through a triangular, refractive motif that separates and reassembles features. Insight Prism presents the largest work in the series and foregrounds shifting social roles and the tension between performed selves and an elusive 'true self.' The exhibition at FUMA Contemporary runs from September 12 to 27 in Tokyo. The sculptures combine playful emotionality with precise chiseled woodwork to visualize contemporary questions of identity and perception.

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