Kenji Sakai’s latest exhibition, held in an abandoned factory repurposed into a gallery (AUTO VISION) in Hokuto, Japan, transcends the limits of conventional space to evoke an intricate dialogue between collapse and creation.
Through geometric minimalism and deft material experimentation, Sakai revisits his ongoing exploration of the "world"—a precarious construct perpetually balancing existence and void. The site-specific nature of this show intensifies its conceptual core: the architecture of the abandoned factory mirrors the themes of abandonment and transformation, amplifying the exhibition's resonances.
Born in 1996, Sakai has cultivated a practice that interrogates the dynamic tension between the self and collective within the fragmented structure of contemporary society. This exhibition builds on his recurring motif of near-future urban dystopias, constructed from minimal elements—dots, lines, and planes—that evoke the ghostly precision of an artificial system. Through the method of "stacking and flattening," his new works layer color and form in a ritual of creation and obliteration. What emerges are landscapes imbued with silence and rupture, where pristine beauty conceals the latent threat of collapse.
This exhibition also marks the second chapter of Sakai’s ongoing series investigating the "world" as a mutable concept. His artist statement—a poetic meditation on the cyclical interplay of creation and destruction—illuminates the process behind these works. By layering and erasing, Sakai constructs a fragile visual lexicon that reveals fragments of a reality on the verge of disintegration. As Sakai continues to embody his dual role as artist and curator, his works not only demand engagement but provide an intimate space for reflection, inviting viewers to confront the tenuous systems underlying modern existence.
