Junpei Hiraoka: Selected works, 2020-2022

Junpei Hiraoka: Selected works, 2020-2022

In Japanese, the word “complex” is causally used to describe an inferiority complex or closeness. However, I know that in psychology, the term refers to certain types of impulses, desires, and attachments. I have titled my work Complex to reference both of these meanings.

As I made these works, I thought about what caused my emotional responses and reflected upon my own “complexes.” I believe that emotions come from an entanglement of belief systems, personal histories, and interactions with different environments. I have attempted to express this mental process of self-reflection through my work as “decomposing → re-recognizing → reconstructing.”

I use the plasticity of clay to express an instinctive, abstract, organic, and constantly changing form of emotion. Then, I carefully coat the body with colored slips. This process is where I reconstruct my emotions rationally by intentionally controlling the material, color, and texture by layering slip.

I believe that such processes, shapes, and color combinations can express the complexity and accumulation of emotions that lead to such “complexes.” By presenting these ceramic forms of layered slip, I hope to provoke an emotional reaction from the viewer, perhaps opening a window to their inner emotions.

Credits (in order of appearance)