A Day In Muni
Pimlico Arts Japan x Yusuke Hanai

2024
Acrylic, Plastic Marine Debris, Mixed Media
60 x 155 x 85mm

I look at the bottle cap I picked up at sea and imagine about the path the cap has taken.
It came from a distant continent, across several oceans, and it is now in my hand.
Every fallen stone and leaf has its own personality and story, and they live inside us.

I have much to think about marine pollution due to the nature of my artwork, I am the one who has been fascinated with plastic and create my artwork as I feel self-contradiction. With the hope that my artwork will lead to some kind of positive movement, I focus on the bright side of plastic waste rather than its negative aspects and change them into art object of lamp.
（Pimlico Arts Japan）

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I like surfing, so I often go to the ocean. Of course, I like riding waves, but I also like floating in the ocean on a board. It feels even better when the water is clear to the bottom of the ocean. On the other hand, if there is garbage floating in the ocean, it ruins my surfing experience. I don't want to surf in such unpleasant ocean, so I have been picking up garbage on the beach after surfing and participating in beach cleanups. I learned that plastic waste washed up on the beach breaks up into small pieces, that is, microplastics, causing major damage to coral reefs and other marine lives, and that the microplastics which are taken up by marine lives eventually finds its way into our human bodies.

It is said that in a few decades, the amount of plastic waste in the ocean will exceed the amount of fish in the ocean. Most of the garbage is littered on the streets, blown by the wind, washed into rivers, and reach into the ocean. No matter how much garbage is picked up, as long as people's awareness does not change, plastic waste will continue to increase in the ocean.

As an artist who loves the ocean, I think it is necessary to send out such a message in the city, not only near the ocean, and I am honored to work with Pimlico Arts Japan, which makes wonderful lamps from plastic waste.
(Yusuke Hanai)

Pimlico Arts Japan x Yusuke Hanai

Pimlico Arts Japan / Toru Saito
Born in 1979 and currently based in Hayama, Japan. Toru Saito, the artist under the name of Pimlico Arts Japan, creates lighting implements from plastic waste washing up on beaches. His creative journey begun in 2015 after heavily influenced by Yogan Lehl's exhibition, featuring the illuminating marine debris.

Yusuke Hanai
Born in 1978. Hanai’s style is strongly influenced by the counterculture of the 50s and 60s, forming a unique style that combines Japanese aesthetic sensibilities with American retro illustration. He has exhibited in the U.S., France, Australia, Brazil, Taiwan, and the U.K. To date, he has provided artwork for Vans, NIXON, BEAMS, and others expanding his activities both in Japan and abroad.

EXHIBITION
#04 Plastic Coast

March.2024