HAMBURG.- KAITO’s new body of work invites the viewer to enter a mythological world in which human characters and imaginary creatures illustrate the contemporary human mind. By pushing the boundaries of form and color she builds a narrative that draws together disparate elements from the real and the imaginary world into a cohesive and thought-provoking whole. Amazon-esque goddesses, fictitious monster-like creatures reminiscent of Digimon or Pokémon from a parallel universe and male figures reflect on the process of gaining identity by highlighting the metamorphoses between them. KAITO’s story-telling flows between the real and the imaginary world, questioning behavioural traits and emphasising the many forms identity can take. In her paintings, she revives mythologies in order to reveal the most hidden parts of the human psyche. Self-realisation within fixed socio-political structures is a recurring topic in KAITO’s work and is a reference to her upbringing in Japan, which is known to have especially rigid social codes. KAITO’s depiction of eccentric behavioural traits aims to encourage the viewer to become one's authentic self by acknowledging idiosyncratic traits as the features that make us human. Accepting otherness, detached from societal expectations will make us appreciate individual characteristics that define us as unique individuals with a view to create a society that is stronger as a whole. 

The artist
Kaito Itsuki (born in Sapporo, Japan in 1993) is a Tokyo and New York based artist. In 2019 Kaito graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts (MFA) after graduating from Tohoku University of Art & Design (BFA) in Yamagata. Selected exhibitions include: The Women from the Ground, DNA at N’s Art Project, Osaka, Japan (2017); Tiger Poet at Clear Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2018); Encounters at PDX Contemporary Arts, Portland Oregon, USA (2018); Amazondom at Pulp, Osaka, Japan (2019); IDÉE FIXE at Tong Gallery + Project, Beijing, China; ”たりない循獣 / Unsatidfied animals of the cycle at GINZA TSUTAYA, Tokyo, Japan (2019) and Complete Metamorphosis at Super Dutchess in New York, USA (2019). In 2017 and 2018 she was awarded the KUMA Foundation scholarship. In February 2020 her work will be included in a group exhibition at The Residency Gallery in London, UK.