Sex as an axis of rotation.

By Michiyo Kamei

“It is a pleasure to be able to exchange techniques, expressions and ideas at an international level, as a member of the DF Art Project. I am fundamentally interested in humans and the world we live in. We are promised death… Yet we possess a body and live with the mystery of life. I hope that my drawings can unveil these different mysteries and make the spectator sense something of the eternity of life.

I work on crushed rock painting as well as ink and Japanese paper – a  medium unique to Japan, made from water and glue. The ink seeps into the water and spreads freely, and this is difficult to control. The composition takes shape according to the movement of the ink and the controlled lines. I picture my work like a space where the accidental and the inevitable join forces.

Michiyo Kamei, Longing for soaring, 2019, ink on paper, 162 cm x 194 cm.

I studied anatomy at the medical faculty of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University. I use anatomic charts and “Shunga” (Japanese erotic etchings) as motifs. In this way, I am seeking to create a painted space linking the interior and exterior of the body. I liken this concept to that of the mandala in Buddhist art. For me, sexual expression is absolutely necessary within this space – as life is created and perpetuated through sex. I have this image of a cycle of life and death, infinitely repeated, with sex as the axis it all hinges upon.”


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