PROFILE
Born in Shiga Prefecture in 1990. Completed a degree course at Kyoto University of Art and Design Graduate School. Major solo exhibitions include “VIVID-STILL” (Gallery PARC/COHJU Contemporary Art, Kyoto, 2017) and “project N 74 YAMATO Mio” (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, 2019).

DATE

2019

MEDIUM

acrylic, cotton cloth, wood panel

DIMENSIONS

H110×W167×D5cm

STATEMENT

What does it really mean to “live”? I never get tired of simple-yet-complex questions. I draw motifs like dots and lines over and over and over again. In the process of drawing over time, the alignment of the dots is gradually distorted, and the continuity of the lines meanders. It is both organic and inorganic. The state of order and disorder coming into being, or the state of their not coming into being, at the same time. What on earth is it that we feel reality in? Life and material and time: the original essence of these things—that is what I wish to find.

ABOUT MUSIC AND ART

I have a memory of the first time I experienced the true power held by that thing we call “expression.” It was one night when I was 13. I was watching a music station for whatever reason. I hadn’t heard the explanation of the song being performed. But when the performance started it hit me. Lyrics and melody—an elaborate performance—I had never encountered before. It was so cool that I lost all my words, mesmerized by the TV screen. It was a vivid experience. This experience settled down inside my body over time and eventually transformed my way of thinking. The sensation of my body becoming utterly numb. I developed an insatiable desire, one that was with me in my sleep and in my waking hours, to create a work like that myself. That night I was brought under a spell. That had been the debut of Ringo Sheena and Tokyo Jihen.

Mio Yamato PLAYLIST