Avery Suzuki

What is the relationship between what we see in the world and what we perceive in our minds? I’m interested in thinking about reality as a spectrum – conflating the idea of subjective and objective experience to create something akin to magic. In Japanese folklore traditions tsukumogami are a form of yōkai where everyday objects (tools, furniture, lanterns, etc.) become possessed and enlivened by a spirit. This is the perspective from which I am approaching object-making. Kofun Bed and Milk are both attempts at materially altering everyday forms to imbue them with a sense of kami, or spirit, so that they might enter an alternative realm. My artmaking approach aims to keep the work earthbound, while injecting transformative elements to transport the viewer into a parallel dimension that is both familiar and fantastic.