(Ⅰ） Preface.

In her works such as "Mengele Exhibition (2014-2017)," "Boob Painting (2018-)," "I Don't Want to Be an Idol (2021)," and "Jinryoku Matching App (2023)," the artist I, Aoi Uni, consistently uses a method of expression that paradoxically poses ironic questions by acting as a clown. The core of this method of expression is improvisation. At the core of this is improvisational abstract painting. The reason why I am seeking to create ironic and poisonous expressions with a strong sense of personal involvement while at the same time not abandoning pure abstract painting is because I want to reflect and satirize the state of the Japanese art world, where both "just pretty pictures that emphasize visuals" and "high contextual and conceptual art" coexist within a single artist. I want to reflect and satirize the state of the Japanese art world where these two coexist side by side.

（Ⅱ）Background

I was raised as a second-generation member of the Unification Church, formerly known as the Unification Church of World Peace and Unification. As is well known, the Unification Church has a strict belief in sexuality.

After the repression of childhood education, they gain spiritual independence. Instead, they became more interested in the liberated sexuality and became more conscious of it in their expressive activities.

He was attracted not only to sexual desire, but also to the desire for death.

A psychiatrist diagnosed him as having a developmental disorder (ADHD) from birth; he also showed signs of borderline personality disorder from around the age of 14 or 15, and has been visiting the hospital and suffering from drug addiction (prescription drug dependence) since around the age of 21.

He has been in and out of psychiatric wards from his early 20s to his 30s.

These characteristics apply to "Mengele". I am a self-identified "Mengele" and have organized an exhibition called "Mengele Exhibition" with the purpose of expressing my discomfort with internal revelations in art and the art of people with disabilities.

She has masochistic sexuality and a strong desire for destruction, and she likes so-called "depressive eroge" (computer games for adults with depressing settings), and often draws motifs from these games. This is probably due to the education he received in the Unification Church.

Although he officially left the Unification Church when he was 25 years old, it was during his adolescent years that he inwardly distanced himself from the Unification Church. On that day, I needed a new "faith". That was "painting" or "art" for me.

For the first time in my early twenties, I attempted suicide. Just before that, I thought to myself, "I can never die until I succeed. I was able to stay alive by deciding, "I will do art and survive in the midst of hell.

For me, quitting painting and art is tantamount to depravity, defeat, and death. I have lived my life with art as my identity above all else. And I will continue to do so.

(Ⅲ) Visuales, técnicas.

La sensación de incomodidad aumenta cuando se utiliza una representación realista. ¿Son realmente correctos estos cinco sentidos? Yo, que tengo características innatas de tacto fantasma, ilusiones auditivas y visuales, no puedo creerlo.

Más que los cinco sentidos es increíble. Pensé que sería mejor adoptar un enfoque expresionista para recrear y recrear fielmente el mundo tal y como lo siento.

Mi obra es principalmente sobre papel o lienzo, pintada con acrílicos. A menudo pinto de forma rápida e instantánea, por lo que los materiales de secado rápido son una buena opción. La mayoría de las veces utilizo un pincel, pero también pinto con los dedos y el cuerpo.

Para mí, pintar es un diálogo con la pintura, y siento una profunda conexión con la obra cuando las yemas de mis dedos entran en contacto directo con la pintura. En el acto de tocar la pintura con las manos, puedo decir que estoy realizando un ritual que entrelaza el tacto fantasmal. Hay un deseo de tocar y confirmar.

Pinto para buscar el placer para mí.

Mi pincelada es dinámica e intento encontrar la belleza en los desniveles, las manchas, la mezcla de pinturas, las materias naturales y la resistencia. Hago hincapié en las huellas del trabajo manual y la fisicalidad. Crea cuadros con un alto nivel de información en las gradaciones de color, la complejidad del tacto y la sensación de tosquedad y densidad.

No se atreve a hacer una esquisa o un boceto, sino que dibuja exclusivamente según su imagen. Aunque la imagen cambie a medida que pinta y se produzca algo distinto de lo que imagina, valora el proceso y el resultado, y disfruta de la diversión y la improvisación de no saber lo que se producirá.　

A menudo veo curvas suaves como olas en mis motivos. Son las montañas y el mar que se ven en casa de sus padres, en Ibaraki. Probablemente sean los paisajes originales de mi educación. La suavidad de las curvas me produce a veces una impresión sexual.

(Ⅳ) Concept, art historical positioning

Clement Greenberg (1909-1994) clearly viewed the semi-figurative works of Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) as abstract. This is because the emphasis is on brushing rather than form. In other words, many of my paintings can also be considered "abstract.

For example, "Shinzo Abe Drinking Mekkol (2022)" certainly depicts a concrete motif, former Prime Minister Abe. However, the highlights of this painting are the bold composition with blank spaces, the skillful brushwork, the rough brushstrokes and unevenness of the paint, the sensitivity that is revealed after the paint has been tinkered with, and the red coloring that can be glimpsed even in the overall blue color scheme. Thus, the fact that Shinzo Abe is drinking Mekkol is not a major issue. A painting is not so much about what is depicted as how it is depicted. This work can also be defined as an abstract painting, painted from an abstract viewpoint.

Underlying my body of work is a tradition of abstract expressionism called "neo-abstract painting. I have inherited the improvisation and action of Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), the abstract balance and rough brushwork of de Kooning, and am creating works to innovate.

He has been creating works that are both innovative and innovative, for even paintings that are said to have come to an end still have the potential for extended expression.

His "Natural Object Series (2021)" blurs the boundary between three-dimensional objects and paintings by intentionally showing wooden frames and loosely stretching canvases, and his "Acrylic on Photo Series (2020)" blurs the boundary between reality (painting) and non-reality (photography). He continues to experiment with new approaches.

In pursuit of the possibilities of painting, he formed an art collective and incorporated performance elements such as live painting set to music and fieldwork.

Contemporary art increasingly demands social practice that emphasizes social relations. In order to respond to this change and to explore what is possible and what is impossible in painting, he has been working both as a collective and as a painter.

Also, as a Japanese, I have inherited the Japanese spirit of "ma," "kawaii," and "asymmetry aesthetics. The reason why my paintings have bold milky white margins even though they are Western paintings is because I am conscious of "ma," and the reason why I use eroge and manga characters as motifs is because I have inherited the Japanese "kawaii" culture.

(Ⅴ) Afterword

My current goal is to pursue the mystique of painting, which has not yet been illuminated by currently accepted art historical values, while taking over the context of art history, and to prove the myth that "painting is, after all, a visual world.