Zen City

“Pixel Montage” is a technique I devised in 1988, with the aim of cutting out and reconstructing printed materials and photographs to create new images. This technique explores expression by transitioning between microscopic and macroscopic perspectives.

The inspiration for this technique dates back to my childhood. I loved collecting commemorative stamps, character cards, candy packaging, river stones, fallen leaves, and pinecones, arranging them and looking at them with curiosity.
One day, I was astonished to see the inside of a television my father was repairing. Inside the simple box covered with a cathode ray tube and plastic casing, there was a circuit board neatly lined with tiny components.
It looked to me like a town seen from a mountaintop. I was fascinated by the contrast in scale—my own size, the size of my house, and the mysterious world that existed inside the TV. This experience deepened my interest in arranging collected objects to create new visual compositions.

As an adult, I began taking photographs and collecting images from printed materials featuring a wide range of subjects, from organic forms such as lips, Japanese festivals, plants, and flowers, to inorganic objects like buildings. By carefully observing each image and considering its colors, shapes, and textures, I trimmed them into squares and connected them to form a unified image.

The consistent theme is “now”—I aim to create works in which the beauty of detail captured from a microscopic perspective coexists with the harmony visible from a macroscopic perspective. I follow my natural inspirations, gathering large volumes of the present moment from various places, and reconstruct them to form each piece.

“Pixel Montage” is an attempt to fuse micro and macro perspectives to create new images that transcend time and space. At the heart of this technique is the process of contemplating how each individual image contributes to the whole and refining that concept into a final work.

Through this technique, I aim to offer visual surprises and the joy of discovery—works in which viewers can encounter new stories and interpretations.