Yasuhito Kawasaki’s debuted his North American solo exhibition titled ‘Hello Bear-Chan!’ with Thinkspace Projects on February 4, 2023. Deftly working with both paintings and ceramics, Kawasaki is experiencing a meteoric rise with collectors around the world. Using a casting technique he has honed over years of work, he is known for his trademark sculptures of innocent looking children. While the visuals vary, each is a self-portrait, drawing on some element of himself.

Artist’s Statement

Ever since we are born, at home, we are spending lots of time with people with similar faces as our own like parents, brothers, sisters, and relatives. That’s why I think that a face that I recognise, and the feature of that face, is infinitely similar to myself. For example, in some cases, we think the face of pet dog resembles its owner’s, or the faces of a married couple resemble each other. I think it is a phenomenon that the feature of a face you recognize looks like your face, and you subconsciously choose the one with the same face or a similar one.
The portraits that I create in my artwork look like me because, in a subconscious manner, I select that person, I don’t imagine a specific person. I call it a self-portrait. And whether it’s a figure of a man or a woman, I call it a self-portrait regardless of gender.
I got married about a year ago and started living as a married couple. I accept a person who is different from me, and every piece of my artwork is about what I can see and think from the smallest society of two people.
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Current and Previous Works by Yasuhito Kawasaki