YUICHI HIRAKO (Japanese, B. 1982)

Nature and wildlife, specifically botanical forms are very important to Yuichi Hirako. In the dazzling colours of the forest, a man with a wooden head silently sits with his bottle in the night, gazing at the shining stars. The plants appear animated, as if they are looking to expand further as they planning to seed the world. Seeding represents the life cycle or reincarnation in Hirako's work. Plants have a very unconscious presence in our life; therefore quite a distance exists between us and this chaotic utopia. The ambiguous relationship between people and plants inspires the artist's imagination, allowing us to stray us into this mysterious landscape as we look at his work.