Basically, I work in a style called kirakira, which means sparkling in Japanese. Even though each output can look very different, I always work around the same theme, which comes from my memories of my childhood. When I was a kid, I loved collecting kirakira things: Sailor Moon cards, stickers, acrylic jewels, small glass objects. I always loved looking at things that were transparent, or things that sparkled. That is still my central inspiration. It is also something that was not really influenced by anyone or anything else other than my childhood, so in that sense, it feels like my first passion.
The sparkling, glimmering effect is often made in After Effects or Premiere Pro, so it is not really generative in a strict sense, although it depends on the video. I use a plug-in which isolates light to create sparkles: when you add the effect, the glimmer appears where there is light, while darker areas remain untouched. So in a way it works like an algorithm, but I would not call that part a fully generative process.
I am often categorized as a generative artist because I use TouchDesigner, and for AI I use ComfyUI. They are different systems, and the algorithms are different, but both involve generative processes. So yes, I think I can be defined as a generative artist, but my practice also moves between AI and generative art more broadly. Earlier in my AI work, I used Midjourney, especially to experiment with prompting, but then I wanted to understand the structure of AI more deeply, which is why I shifted to ComfyUI.
I work very intuitively. Usually, I follow the theme I am most interested in at that moment. Flowers, for example, also come from childhood. I loved looking at a picture book of flowers when I was young, and I could remember many of their names. So that interest has been with me for a long time.
Another important source of inspiration is art history. My background is in painting, and I started my career with oil painting, so I have a lot of respect for the old masters. I have always been fascinated by portraiture and by very technical painting. In the beginning, I was inspired more directly by particular portraits or paintings, but now I am more interested in understanding artists broader practices, their ways of working.
For example, one of my series, Daily Narratives, was inspired by Vilhelm Hammershøi, from Denmark. I was struck by the way he painted daily life, often without people, returning again and again to the same room. I thought that was a very unique way of expressing everyday life, and it led me to begin photographing my own neighborhood and then transforming those images through AI and TouchDesigner.
Before entering art academy in Holland, I had originally wanted to go to university in Japan, but tuition was extremely expensive. Later, my mother encouraged me to go to an art school in Tokyo that had an exchange connection with Holland, and that is what eventually brought me there. The experience of European art education felt completely different to me. I was still in the painting department, but I was allowed to try many different media: installation, performance, drawing, and eventually video. By the end of my studies, I made video work for my graduation project, and I realized I really enjoyed it. In some ways, the process even reminded me of drawing when I was little.
After graduating, I returned to Tokyo and started working as a VJ. I did that for more than ten years, mainly for concerts, and that became my entry point into digital tools. At first I was making more graphic, computer-based work with After Effects and other Adobe software. Then, during the pandemic, I had more time to focus on my own work and to learn TouchDesigner and other softwares in greater depth. That was really when the shift toward my current digital practice happened, even if it had been building over a long period of time.
My process really depends on the series. For a portrait-based work, I usually begin with a simple idea, like wanting to combine a traditional portrait with TouchDesigner. I take notes first, then I generate a large number of images or videos with AI. Once I have hundreds of outputs, I bring them into TouchDesigner to test different algorithms and combinations between AI and generative art. When I feel I have found a good balance between those two elements, I move into Adobe software, like Premiere, to edit the work, and then I finalize it with the glimmer effect.
I am always interested in trying something new. When I find a tool that feels exciting, I want to experiment with it and if it works well, I will use it in my works. That was the case with my photogrammetric series: after seeing a TouchDesigner tutorial, I tried scanning things with my iPhone, then exporting the models into TouchDesigner. I remember I scanned random objects from my neighborhood, and started thinking about how this tool could preserve everyday places as digital art. That is how that series began.
Actually, I do not think so much about what specific feeling I want people to have. For me, what matters most is how I feel during the production process. If I am excited while making the work, then maybe the viewer will feel the same excitement. But I also think it is important to hear criticism — maybe it is boring, maybe I do not like it. That is also okay.
What matters is that I enjoy making the artwork. With digital art, everything moves really fast, especially in the NFT community, where trends change every few months and people focus on selling out artworks. But if we chase the selling out, I think we will forget to enjoy making artwork. And that would be very sad, because we always started because we enjoy it.