Meiro Koizumi

Meiro Koizumi (1976, Gunma, JP) often investigates his surroundings: Japan’s ritualistic culture and past events. As part of this process the painful reality hidden behind serene facades is revealed, opening up a new reality and possibilities for new ways of resolving the past in a way that can be understood on a global scale. In contemporary Japan, the status of the Emperor remains untouchable and a taboo. In the Air series, Meiro Koizumi depicts the figure of the current Japanese Emperor and questions the way in which he is to be represented, as a ruler or a god. Koizumi creates the Air paintings from existing (news) pictures on which the Emperor is shown. Controversially, he makes the Emperor's figure disappear and he remains invisible on the events in which he was physically present, leaving a ghostly emptiness in its place. Air in Japanese means 'unwritten rule' or 'atmosphere that keeps one from breaking unwritten rules'.