Izumi Kato opens his first US solo exhibition at Galerie Perrotin in New York on January 7, almost exactly two years after his first one-man showcase outside his native Japan, also hosted by Galerie Perrotin, at its Hong Kong outpost.Although Kato’s first international appearance came relatively early in 2007, when Robert Storr invited him to participate in his “Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind” exhibition at the Venice Biennale, the artist only made his debut at the age of thirty.Yukie Kamiya, gallery director of the Japan Society in New York, notes that Kato’s origins have bestowed on him somewhat of an outsider status. “He had worked as a manual laborer for some years, which left him with the sense of being at one with the world that comes with corporeal achievement, and a humble appreciation of his place as just anther creature of this earth,” says Kamiya.BLOUIN ARTINFO caught up with Kato on the eve of his New York show to discuss some of his artistic positions and influences, and his turn towards making soft vinyl sculptures in the past two years.Many have noted the resemblance of your works to Jomon-era figures, African masks, and Art Brut or outsider art. Which of these, if any, are important to you?I was interested in the works of outsider art found in museums when I first started making art. My interest in these works, however, was purely with regard to their shape and form. None of these genres are particularly important to me.Your first high-profile international appearance was in 2007, when Robert Storr invited you to participate in his exhibition “Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense” at the Venice Biennale. How did this experience influence your subsequent output?Although the Venice exhibition did not have a direct relationship to the works themselves, it was a good opportunity for me in terms of having my own work seen and validated by various people, from an objective standpoint.In 2011, you collaborated with Comme des Garcons to create a store-sized installation of both sculptures and paintings at their Six boutique in Osaka, featuring reclining figures with their arms and legs like plants, sprouting straight up into the air, and others lying forlornly on spartan beds with flowers and buds coming out of their bodies. What is the significance of these motifs?I have no particular interest in these motifs in and of themselves. I would say that I create these works because I find their forms interesting. Of course, I create my artworks with a clear intention, just like how various people turn their thoughts towards various things. 2014 marked a sort of turning point in your practice, when you shifted towards making soft vinyl sculptures. How did this shift come about?I started making my soft vinyl sculptures after my friend Kanamasa-san, who works for the Japanese toy manufacturer Linden, invited me to create something with them. Originally, soft vinyl figures in Japan were popular toys for children that were made using Japanese technology. Growing up, they were a familiar presence for me that I used to play with. I agreed to work with Linden as I felt, rather intuitively, that soft vinyl was a material that I could use in my work.Were you inspired or influenced by other artists who work with this medium?Once in a while, you come across an artist who uses this material to make copies of his or her own work, but I think I might be one of the only artists who uses it directly as a material. In that sense, there aren’t any artists who I feel influenced by.Your work has been shown in the context of group shows such as "neoteny japan – From Takahashi Collection,” which showed at multiple venues in 2008-9 including the Ueno Royal Museum in Tokyo and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sapporo. Ryutaro Takahashi, who curated this show, has used the term “neoteny” to refer to a certain juvenile character in the works of contemporary Japanese artists of the 1990s. How did you feel about having your work included in this context?I don’t pay much attention to what other people say about my work. I was just delighted to have been able to participate in these exhibitions as part of the Takahashi Collection. As an interpretation of a certain thread of Japanese art (and society), however, the notion of “neoteny” does resonate with me.While your earlier figures had simple faces delineated with a minimum of detail, several of your new works have a more articulated facial features, with skeletal musculature that recalls a flayed corpse, or a coiled, intestinal appearance. What prompted you to depict these more anatomical features?My works are in constant movement and flux. I don’t make paintings in order to offer an explanation of some particular thing. Ultimately, what I want is to be able to make a painting that will hold the interest of the viewer. I think that my style arrived at this point as part of a quest for sculptural forms.Izumi Kato’s exhibition at Galerie Perrotin New York runs January 7 through February 27, 2016.
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