Digital composite photography, text Variable dimensions This project is commissioned for the 50th-anniversary publication of the Glass Department at Rhode Island School of Design. In everyday life, I sometimes find similarities between two things that are essentially different. The encounter with those things occur by chance, and they seem quite amusing at first glance. At the same time, many experiences like that are quickly forgotten or left abandoned because I don’t know what to do with them. However, taking a very detailed look at some of those things may open up a new dimension to perceive the world. Looking back in my studio practice, I was interested in the parallel worlds of glass and hard candy for a long time, but not sure how to push my curiosity until I started graduate study at RISD glass department. During the fist semester, I decided to make a piece about it, which eventually became one of my ongoing series of artworks until today. On February 17, 2015, I participated in the annual event of Yamayaki (mountain burning festival) at Akiyoshidai Plateau in Yamaguchi, Japan. When I was watching the fire and smoke rising from the ground, I saw a young man standing on a rocky hill of the karst limestone plateau. I took a picture of him and downloaded the image on a computer at home. Then it made me realize a strange link to a famous painting from the Romantic era. The discovery brought me a great excitement, but it was the kind of a photograph which I did not find any artistic way of presentation if I did not receive an offer to take part in this publication project.
