Artist Talk 3 | Pokémon & Japanese Craftsmanship - From Inspiration to Creation

creature he has chosen, but Pokémon live in a different world from our reality. “However, I can ponder them there.” In between his impression of the subject and the logic of the craft, Mitsuta “goes after the perfect balance.” His thoughts broaden, wondering if the craftsmen of the past who tackled subjects such as dragons and shachi (a mythical animal with the head of a lion and the body of a fish), which are part of the articulated figure tradition, worked in the same way. In this exhibition, he created “Gyarados, as an articulated figurine, as a Mitsuta dragon.” The whiskers were a problem, but he concluded that it wouldn't have been cool to have them dangling down from a movable joint. “Actually, in the past, dragons’ whiskers did not move.” Through his creative process, past and present in Mitsuta’s point of view, overlap.

It was netsuke that inspired Tsuboshima to work on transformable ornaments. A netsuke* has to bear the weight of the portable object it is fastening, while swinging. And it also requires the assumption that, as an accessory worn on the body, it can be attached and removed. To avoid damage and parts getting snared on clothing, he decided that “all the fine parts should be put inside,” and took up the challenge. That was the start of incorporating the form with the logic of his transformative patterns. Tsuboshima’s work is of course intriguing for its intricacies, but the way that the individual parts and mechanisms need to work is also fascinating. The small body of Transformable Ornament, Rookidee/Corviknight is made of fifty-some parts. It conceals all sorts of suggestions for thinking about the craft.

* A netsuke is a type of fastener, usually a small sculpture, used when hanging a tobacco pouch or an inro (a tiered container) on a cord from the obi sash.