SERIES, "Lost, Babel in my mind, Study of human mind"
These three series play with the concept of identity. On the one hand they make identification difficult if not rather impossible and on the other hand they manage to give a striking picture of the inner world of the characters shown.
One could regard people's identity as a multitude of layers. Knowing all the layers however does not necessarily mean to really grasp the identity behind. The artist is playing with these layers, he is putting them on top of each other in a constant process of hiding them. Human's identity can be explained as a multitude of layers but also as a conglomerate of characteristics. Hiding these characteristics means taking off the face and showing another existence.
The portraits show the artist himself in the same posture wearing the same sweater presenting the same 'face' without any eyes, mouth or nose. There are just the neck, the ears and the oval of the face, just like a canvas to paint. The head coverings vary in the way as he puts different hats, caps, wigs, kitchen utensils and even a bucket on top of his head. Is he the same person on every photograph? Who is he?
Are the works of these series variations of one and the same man, some sort of multiple personalities? How multiple is our personality anyway? Do we need the variety to be able to grasp the original? All these thoughts lead to the old phenomenon of the doppelganger. This finalizes in a game with the viewer about how much the artist has changed what the viewer is looking at. The artist is playing with one’s perception and expectation while showing a remarkable array of identities.
Naoki Fuku creates new identities and shows the inner life of the resulting characters while using the layers which are quasi wrapped around it, to represent inner horrors and convulsions in a very expressionistic way.
Patricia Meyer, 2015 May
These three series play with the concept of identity. On the one hand they make identification difficult if not rather impossible and on the other hand they manage to give a striking picture of the inner world of the characters shown.
One could regard people's identity as a multitude of layers. Knowing all the layers however does not necessarily mean to really grasp the identity behind. The artist is playing with these layers, he is putting them on top of each other in a constant process of hiding them. Human's identity can be explained as a multitude of layers but also as a conglomerate of characteristics. Hiding these characteristics means taking off the face and showing another existence.
The portraits show the artist himself in the same posture wearing the same sweater presenting the same 'face' without any eyes, mouth or nose. There are just the neck, the ears and the oval of the face, just like a canvas to paint. The head coverings vary in the way as he puts different hats, caps, wigs, kitchen utensils and even a bucket on top of his head. Is he the same person on every photograph? Who is he?
Are the works of these series variations of one and the same man, some sort of multiple personalities? How multiple is our personality anyway? Do we need the variety to be able to grasp the original? All these thoughts lead to the old phenomenon of the doppelganger. This finalizes in a game with the viewer about how much the artist has changed what the viewer is looking at. The artist is playing with one’s perception and expectation while showing a remarkable array of identities.
Naoki Fuku creates new identities and shows the inner life of the resulting characters while using the layers which are quasi wrapped around it, to represent inner horrors and convulsions in a very expressionistic way.
Patricia Meyer, 2015 May