“Mikki No Sekai”, Around the World Series, No. 78

Japan has always been such an intriguing country to me in so many ways. From their cultural practices, art aesthetic, entertainment, language, and history, Japan wrapped up into one painting became incredibly difficult for me to paint. I would say it was difficult not only for the complexity of it’s vast cultural circuitry, but also I had not seen it with my own eyes. Regardless, this piece is called “Mikki No Sekai” which stands for “World of Mickey”, and I’ve focused a high saturation geometric pattern concept inside his face, that bursts out from either end in a display of colorful linear webs. On either side of his face is both a television that references a portion of their entertainment culture, and a Mickey Mouse hat that represents the park in Tokyo. On every corner lies a sea of cherry blossoms (Sakura), which contain the city of Tokyo underneath, and Mt. Fuji above his face.

This was one of the only pieces of the TENxTENxTEN collection that was painted in my artist residency which was in a shipping container out in Las Vegas, NV. “Mikki No Sekai” is a part of the “Around the World” chapter, and resides as number 88 in the collection.