{"id":323,"date":"2023-08-09T09:24:50","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T00:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/?page_id=323"},"modified":"2025-12-15T15:20:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T06:20:29","slug":"statement","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/en\/statement\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"height:0px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-outline animated fadeIn slow is-style-outline--1\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/statement\/\">\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"animated fadeIn slower\">I believe that art history has a queer dimension\u2015that Michelangelo and Caravaggio, recognized as Old Masters of Western art, and some Greek and Roman sculptors further back in antiquity were homosexual (or bisexual).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"animated fadeIn slower\">As a fellow artist, I sense that there are certain forms and depictions throughout their works that can only be achieved with a homosexual perspective. I refer to this perspective as \u201chomosexual aesthetics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"animated fadeIn slower\">When looking at Japanese art, I \ufb01nd similar aesthetics in the works of the Kamakura-period sculptor Unkei (and the Kei school). However, homosexual aesthetics are less apparent in Unkei\u2019s compared to Michelangelo\u2019s. This is because Unkei produced his sculptures with many others at his workshop under his direction, unlike Michelangelo, who created his works solely by himself. And yet, I certainly sense a queer reality that Unkei has looked straight through, embedded deep inside his works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"animated fadeIn slower\">The term \u201chomosexual aesthetics\u201d here does not mean direct expressions of homosexuality as seen in gay art. Historically, art began with religious art, and within any religion, a male-centered society that excludes females was formed. The same goes for artists. Until modern times, only males were allowed to occupy that position. Most depictions of the ideal body produced in those male-centered, homosocial communities are male \ufb01gures. Here is my question. Why have such homosexual aesthetics been accepted in a society where the majority remained heterosexual?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"animated fadeIn slower\">Whether it is in marble, marquetry, or silicone sculpture, sculpting human \ufb01gures in the style of realism requires a considerable amount of physical stress. Despite this, within \ufb01gurative sculpture resides the impetuous desire for beauty that drives one to choose such a taxing style. In my opinion, the intensity of this desire is what sublimates homosexual aesthetic into a universal aesthetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"animated fadeIn slower\">My artmaking starts with simulating homosexual aesthetics that stand out to me as an anomalous presence among the masterpieces of the past. Through simulation, I experience the impulse of the masters vicariously and of my own. Such homosexual aesthetics hidden behind the history of art are \ufb01ltered through my senses and ampli\ufb01ed in my sculptures. It is my challenge, through my artmaking, to add another layer of reality to art history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right animated fadeIn slower\">Ichitaka Kamiji<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I believe that art history has a queer dimension\u2015that Michelangelo and Caravaggio, recognized as Old Masters o [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"http:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/?page_id=305","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-323","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","en-US"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2345,"href":"https:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/323\/revisions\/2345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichitakakamiji.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}