Interview with Taiji Kuroda

1. Could you please introduce yourself briefly, including why you paint meat?

I am a Brooklyn-based graphic designer and charcoal artist. I studied Communication Design at Parsons School of Design and started my career as a graphic designer after graduation. My work mainly involves designing CD/LP covers, flyers, and posters for jazz musicians. My journey as a charcoal artist began when I started drawing portraits of musicians, inspired by reproducing the cover portraits of Blue Note Records. My portrait works have been exhibited at Jazz at Lincoln Center Dizzy’s Club and SUNTORY GLOBAL SPIRITS NY. I have also participated in group exhibitions like "Alternative Reality" (SPACEWOMb Gallery, NY) and solo exhibitions such as "Still life" (Takumen, NY) and "Ohanami" (Snow Peak, NY).

The reason I chose meat as the main visual for this exhibition, "Price of Convenience," stems from my experience of moving to America from Japan and starting to cook for myself. I began consuming meat more frequently and started visiting supermarkets regularly. One day, while holding a package of meat in the store, I wondered, "Is this a dead body of a living creature or just a product?" In the past, humans obtained food through hunting and gathering, consuming only what was necessary. Now, we can easily buy processed meat at the supermarket, ready to cook. When you think about it calmly, the meat in front of you once breathed and lived like us. Where is the boundary between a living creature and a product? I became aware of the fact that we are picking up meat in the supermarket without questioning this reality, and it prompted me to explore this theme.

2. What inspires you when creating your work, and how do you translate that inspiration into your art?

My work is deeply connected to daily life. I believe there are many things we use and surround ourselves with every day that we don't really know much about. I enjoy cultivating curiosity about these familiar objects and confronting them, which serves as the source of my creative process. Drawing is an excellent way to observe and deepen understanding of the subject. By drawing, rather than just learning as knowledge, I deepen my understanding and form my own perspective, which I enjoy. Also, by eliminating color, I can remove preconceived notions, allowing for more free expression. I believe that by adding my own abstract elements to the world of reproduction, my work gains a unique individuality.

3. How do you view the relationship between art and society, and what message do you hope to convey to society through your work?

In today's world, where various things are mass-produced and mass-consumed, and the pace of digesting information is accelerating, it feels like the value of each thing is diminishing. That's why I believe it's important to slow down once in a while and take time to really feel the environment and era we are living in. Many things that seem ordinary and go unnoticed in our daily lives might actually be special, but they often pass by without us realizing it. Art, I think, is one means of reconnecting with these "ordinary" yet special things in our daily lives and gaining new insights.

In this exhibition, "Price of Convenience," I was reminded that the meat we eat regularly is, in fact, something special. In the future, due to climate change, such as global warming and extreme weather, it might become difficult to produce livestock. There may come a time when we look back and say, "Those were luxurious times" when we could easily obtain "real meat" instead of cultured or alternative meat. Therefore, I hope this exhibition will give people the chance to appreciate the "ordinary" that we have now and take a moment to reflect on things that we usually don't pay much attention to.

4. Is there any particular point or episode you would like viewers to pay attention to in this exhibition?

The monochrome charcoal drawings, where the color palette is deliberately reduced to the extreme, are a compelling tool that allows for deep observation of the subject, getting to the essence of it. Immersing myself in a monochromatic world, I noticed the beautiful textures and patterns that meat possesses. Particularly when standing in front of a monochrome piece of meat drawn larger than myself, I found it fascinating and profound to see vast landscapes like mountains or waves within it. I hope viewers can experience the realization that there are unnoticed discoveries within the everyday objects that they usually pass by without a second thought.