Metamorphosis

Paradise Lost: Satan in Council (1866) by Gustave Doré

The Minion by Dorian Cleavenger

Bottleneck Gallery

by Tanya Chulkova

I believe the figure of the classic hero is actually a far less realistic figure — it’s a pure fiction. And you engage with it differently, because the hero creates distance: You feel you can’t identify, you look up to this figure.  There’s a quote from Charles Manson — the serial killer — who said: “Look down at me and you see a fool, look up at me and you see a god, look straight at me and you see yourself.” Obviously, it’s always a little piquant to quote a serial killer — but the thought itself is interesting: You recognize yourself in the figure. And that’s the highest ambition of art: to confront people with themselves. Being liked isn’t really a criterion. I pursue figures — or they pursue me — that I feel bring out certain parts of myself, and of the viewer, that perhaps they weren’t consciously aware of but can discover there. It’s always a form of reflection, of self-examination. The antihero, in my experience, is a far better vehicle for identification than the classic hero. 

SORAYAMA: Light, Reflection, Transparency　―TOKYO―