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Artist Bio: Tomoni Shintaku
After graduating from art university, I attended cooking school and received my chef's license; I make use of this background by creating works around the theme of food. Using common foods like hamburgers and cakes, I attempt to express the present circumstances and societal issues critically and simply. In recent years, I have been grappling with works which focus on practical action in real society, such as a work in which a homeless person from LA and a hamburger bite into each other, which stands on the streets of Amsterdam and draws in ordinary people.
After graduating from art university, I attended cooking school and received my chef's license; I make use of this background by creating works around the theme of food. Using common foods like hamburgers and cakes, I attempt to express the present circumstances and societal issues critically and simply. In recent years, I have been grappling with works which focus on practical action in real society, such as a work in which a homeless person from LA and a hamburger bite into each other, which stands on the streets of Amsterdam and draws in ordinary people.
Published on March 3rd, 2024. Artist responses collected in months previous.
What are you working on these days?
Recently, I have been working exclusively on video works. I am trying to create compelling works by repeatedly recording the same actions every day, such as frying an egg or writing letters on the ground. This is because today, video works are all too common, as symbolized by the shooting of videos on personal smartphones. Anyone can take video. However, it is not easy to give artistic meaning to them and sublimate them into works that can be appreciated. For this reason, I try to create artistic video works using the medium of time.
What has been going well for you in your art career and life recently?
I am pleased to participate in my first group exhibition in the Netherlands. For the past few years, I have been focusing on earning a living and have not been very enthusiastic about art activities. Nevertheless, I was lucky to be able to participate in an exhibition in a country other than my home country. Moreover, I was given a fee of 300 EUR. In Japan, such a participation fee would not exist. To begin with, what does art mean to me? What is the meaning and value of life? I spend my days being forced to ask these ontological questions.
What is something new that you have discovered this past year that is meaningful or helpful for you?
In terms of art activities, I feel that I am losing interest in painting, moreover art world. Instead, I feel that I would be more comfortable with works that are more like a cutout or condensed version of my life itself. As I get older, my ambition withers and I turn inward, and I feel that my art activities themselves become one with my life. It is as if I am becoming art for myself, as if the viewer is unimportant.
Briefly walk us through your process of making art or thinking through a new project, focusing on what's most important to you as you create.
The truth is that I have given up on the glamorous success that was once my main goal. I just continue our art activities, doggedly and foolishly. Even if no one is watching, even if no one appreciates it, at any rate, I will not stop doing art. I feel that the only important thing is to keep going. If you live each day diligently, you will come up with a good idea once in a while. I feel that life-size art is being created without growing taller.
Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers?
I have devoted myself to art activities in search of youthful energy and fame, but now I feel that my energy is waning and that I am losing my passion for art in the first place. However, in a sense, this decline is the same as aging, and my art activities are becoming my life itself. To the viewer, this may seem like the end for the artist Tomoni Shintaku. However, I consider this to be an important milestone for me.
What are you working on these days?
Recently, I have been working exclusively on video works. I am trying to create compelling works by repeatedly recording the same actions every day, such as frying an egg or writing letters on the ground. This is because today, video works are all too common, as symbolized by the shooting of videos on personal smartphones. Anyone can take video. However, it is not easy to give artistic meaning to them and sublimate them into works that can be appreciated. For this reason, I try to create artistic video works using the medium of time.
What has been going well for you in your art career and life recently?
I am pleased to participate in my first group exhibition in the Netherlands. For the past few years, I have been focusing on earning a living and have not been very enthusiastic about art activities. Nevertheless, I was lucky to be able to participate in an exhibition in a country other than my home country. Moreover, I was given a fee of 300 EUR. In Japan, such a participation fee would not exist. To begin with, what does art mean to me? What is the meaning and value of life? I spend my days being forced to ask these ontological questions.
What is something new that you have discovered this past year that is meaningful or helpful for you?
In terms of art activities, I feel that I am losing interest in painting, moreover art world. Instead, I feel that I would be more comfortable with works that are more like a cutout or condensed version of my life itself. As I get older, my ambition withers and I turn inward, and I feel that my art activities themselves become one with my life. It is as if I am becoming art for myself, as if the viewer is unimportant.
Briefly walk us through your process of making art or thinking through a new project, focusing on what's most important to you as you create.
The truth is that I have given up on the glamorous success that was once my main goal. I just continue our art activities, doggedly and foolishly. Even if no one is watching, even if no one appreciates it, at any rate, I will not stop doing art. I feel that the only important thing is to keep going. If you live each day diligently, you will come up with a good idea once in a while. I feel that life-size art is being created without growing taller.
Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers?
I have devoted myself to art activities in search of youthful energy and fame, but now I feel that my energy is waning and that I am losing my passion for art in the first place. However, in a sense, this decline is the same as aging, and my art activities are becoming my life itself. To the viewer, this may seem like the end for the artist Tomoni Shintaku. However, I consider this to be an important milestone for me.
Find Tomini Shintaku on Instagram
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