KÜNSTLERHAUS

BETHANIEN

Künstler*innen

Emi Otaguro

Japan

sun bath, 2016, Lambda print, 35.2 x 26.3 cm. Photo: KAYOKOYUKI

Emi Otaguro is developing a special type of painting.
Driven by her interest in the collective unconscious­ – the latent world in all of us – she is exploring ways to express the primal form (archetype) of humans through her work.
The series she is currently focusing on includes reliefs made of sticks of chewing gum that are cut into human shapes, and collages composed of eggshells of quails. “Sun bath”, for instance, is a photograph of a carved piece of gum placed on the back of a live cat. The piece was created in an improvisational manner with a stray cat who happened to visit the artist’s studio. Otaguro describes the cat’s fur as a “channel” where tiny dust particles from the environment and the bodily waste excreted by the living organism come together. Otaguro continues to create while facing with time, the uncontrollable existence.