Much is left to the observer and as Ashlee states, “this is a true example of what encompassed a piece of modern art. “The playful, enigmatic mixed media works by artist Hideto Imai were quite the welcome challenge for our critic. His works were perceived as “very philosophical;” Ashlee notes that this type of work is evident in many other Japanese artists, in that they are spiritual and not, yet the essence of the underlying meaning of the works come through. The process of the creation of his works is that the artist would buy groceries and then, divide them into categories, such as ice cream, sushi, and other items, and then burn them. The charcoal that remained was then made into ink and this is what he uses in his artwork. This technique, as well as his use of paper folding, is very traditional in Japanese art. The works that he chose to show in this group show “all have a take on modern perspective but also with a very traditional mentality,” as Ashlee states. Titles play a part in how the viewer perceives a piece of artwork, but in this case, the titles are as enigmatic as the works themselves. For instance, the titles ‘Green English’ and ‘Hong Kong Airport Hamburger,’ which the critic was very curious about. She, as well as others, try to make sense of the works based on solely the title, but in the end, it might not hold any significance at all and hold meaning only for the creator. But this is part of the whimsy with Hideto’s works that Ashlee loved, in that these pop-art reflections of the artists mind are introduced to us and we are only seeing one dimension of them. Ashlee wonders, could they be speaking of consumerism? A reflection of society? She felt fire, turbulence, chaos and reflection of the world in his works. Also, as the critic urged, one feels compelled to reach out and touch it, to try to understand it. She felt much energy from his works, with the combining of natural and manufactured elements such as paper, glue and metal, creating texture – hardness and softness, which draws from the constant “push and pull.” All elements seem to co-exist in the piece as they do in everyday life, again, a reflection of society. She compares these works to that of a particular author, Haruki Murakami,
