A sculpture by Yuichi Ikehata.
“We live from moment to moment in a mix of truth and fiction that we consider to be reality. The distinction between reality and fiction is a relationship such that we require one in order to recognize the other, and at times they are so closely connected that we are unable to distinguish the two.”
—Artist Yuichi Ikehata
Born in 1975 in Chiba, Japan, Yuichi Ikehata is a talented sculptor and photographer with an affinity for creating three-dimensional renderings of people and their body parts. Since the late 90s, Ikehata’s profoundly moving work has received awards and citations in Japan, Italy, and Paris. For one of his long-term projects, “Fragment of Long-Term Memory” the artist sculpted a large assortment of human body parts held together by exposed wire and thread. As the word “fragment” suggests, the human sculptures in Ikehata’s LTM series are hopelessly tattered, much like our own inner-selves are in the real world. Ikehata then photographs his decaying subjects often in situations that inspire a wide-range of emotions from serenity to dread.
At this time it appears Ikehata is in the process of adding new work to LTM, and given the powerful images you are about to see from the series thus far, this is excellent news. It is exciting to think his best years may still be ahead of him. The following images are slightly NSFW.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
A jarringly realistic life-sized sculpture of actor Robert Shaw as ‘Quint’ from ‘Jaws’
Contemplating death & turning heads: The strange and disturbing sculptures of Yoshitoshi Kanemaki
For the discerning Satanist: Demonic sculptures made from bones
Your worst nightmares: The macabre and disturbing sculptures of Emil Melmoth (NSFW)