Some aspects of Yoshitoshi Kanemaki’s wooden sculptures are ordinary — the women’s faces look like those you might see on your commute. But these figures also have dozens of eyes, cascading faces and extra fingers.
That is not an error. Kanemaki has set out to capture ambivalence, instability and psychological turmoil in his ongoing series “Prism.”
“I want to express the complexity of human emotion,” Kanemaki says. “There is a person who appears normal on the surface, and then the hidden self is actually something else underneath.”
The multitude of faces on Kanemaki’s glitchy sculptures resemble a reflection in a broken mirror or the images in a flip book, each page featuring a slightly different expression. His individual sculptures, in effect, capture a striking range of possibilities all at once.
The people depicted are undeniably human and yet impossibly surreal. The works appear distorted as though from a corrupted digital file, despite their physical form that anchors them to the surrounding space. The ambivalence the artist strives for is reflected in the beholder’s reactions, too: discomfort coupled with an odd sense of satisfaction, and a desire to keep looking while distrusting your own eyes.
Kanemaki carves out the sculptures, both life-size ones and miniatures, from a single block of wood — often camphor but also cypress, ginkgo, cherry and other types — and then paints them in vivid colors. He says the woodcarving method has always fascinated him, especially how a sculpture seems to get bigger as he continues to carve. He is also partly inspired by Buddhist statues, especially depictions of arhats, known for their deeply emotional expressions.
The women, and sometimes men, Kanemaki carves come from his own imagination; there are no models. One exception is “Mirror Prism,” the centerpiece in his ongoing exhibition at Shibuya Parco, “Emergence Entity.” The sculpture is based on actress Anna Yamada, whom Kanemaki saw in a car advertisement and whose acting ability left a deep impression on him.
“She plays all sorts of roles, but I was also curious about what her true self really is,” Kanemaki says. The exhibition at Parco proved a perfect impetus to contact Yamada to be a model for a sculpture, and she agreed.
“I wanted to create an exhibition that was relatively pop and entertaining, something that people could enjoy even if they wander in on a whim, without prior knowledge of my art,” Kanemaki says about “Emergence Entity.” The fourth-floor gallery nestled among fashion stores was originally conceived with a similar goal: to offer Shibuya Parco patrons easy access to art, without any barriers. That’s why the gallery doesn’t have a front door, just a reception desk, and viewing the exhibitions is...