Sashie masakatsu biography

MASAKATSU SASHIE Japan, b.
Masakatsu Sashie was born in and currently resides in Kanazawa, Japan a city well known for rich traditional arts and crafts and a unique culture.
Artist Bio. Masakatsu Sashie's fantastic “orb” paintings depict large, city-like spheres that float gently above the remains of a failed civilization.

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Masakatsu Sashie

Masakatsu Sashie was born in and currently resides in Kanazawa, Japan a city wellknown for rich traditional arts and crafts and a unique culture due to the city’s difficultgeographical accessibility. Sashie received his MFA from the Kanazawa College ofArt in 2000. Sashie has exhibited throughout Asia and the United States andhis work is included in private and corporate collections internationally.

Sashie’s home, Kanazawa, is a miniature condensed version of the larger morepopulous cities in Japan. With a lifelong interest in model making and having grownup in a virtual diorama Sashie’s intricately detailed oil paintings depict a world wherethe common objects of modern industrialization take on often oppressive forms.These haunting vistas are often dominated by an orb, a substantial figure, made ofan amalgam of the remnants of human existence. The contrast between the detailand complexity of the orb and the surrounding environment impresses upon theviewer the co-existence of small microcosms within the larger outer world. Withoutshowing preference to either w

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Diana Shi

October 24, 2016

The disarray of modern life takes shape in levitating planetary masses created from outdated appliances and junkyard fodder. They hover above litter-ridden cities in Japanese artist Masakatsu Sashie‘s realist paintings, which tackle the maddening detritus we live with. His visions of oversized spheres, shedding old air conditioning units and TV sets, serve as a necessary reminder of the amount of waste humanity produces. The series depicting a dilapidated post-modern world is titled External Effect.

The collection of hyper-detailed paintings is currently at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York City. In the show’s description, Sashie cites the Nobel Prize Winner, Konrad Lorenz, as one his sources of inspirations. Lorenz’s 1949 book King Solomon’s Ring: New Light on Animal Ways describes the scientific conditions necessary to create a “balanced aquarium.” Sashie’s paintings allude to this idea of environmental equilibrium and the search of harmony in a world of excessive provocations.

Like many artists who reference personal history

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Masakatsu Sashie

Artist Bio

Masakatsu Sashie’s fantastic “orb” paintings depict large, city-like spheres that float gently above the remains of a failed civilization. The giant orbs, which seem to be self-contained worlds unto themselves, are pieced together from the scraps of old Showa-period buildings and bits of consumer culture, such as vending machines, pachinko parlors, fast food signs, and video game components. Part retro and part sci-fi, the orbs appear to hover gracefully between the worlds of a nostalgic past and a dystopian future. (bio)

From Interview:

As I explained in the other interview, the fundamental theme of my work is a “world” that functions by the phenomenon seen in the balanced aquarium. It is a limited space within which the circle of life exists. The size of the world to an individual varies depending on his imagination and determination. How would one view the world if his living space were physically limited, maybe in a container, for example, an aquarium?

Every life form, within its designated space, occupies a sm