Interview with Aya Kakeda

q) Well, first of all please tell us a little about yourself.

a)I was born and raised in Tokyo,
now live in New York.
I like cats, seals , receiving postcards and eating ice cream on a street corners.
I travel a lot, when I'm not traveling I draw and paints about my imaginary world. ( which is as good as traveling, fun things happens in my imaginary world that keeps me entertained.)

q) Had you always planned on being an artist [or had you other hopes]?

a)I loved drawing since I was little and often daydreamed and made up silly stories.
And as a child my dream was to become an artist, scientist, and explore. So I guess 1/3 of my dream came true!
hehe
No pressure from my family, there are no artists in my family so I was always a bit of an odd one.

q) Do you have a preferred medium to work on? Why?

a)I have lots of medium that I like, I guess I'm a curious person that I want to explore a lots of things.
At this moment I'm very much into drawing with brush and ink, embroidery, and making a soft sculptures with cloth.
Oh, I always love doing silkscreening, too. I've been doing silkscreen for 6 years! I just love all the processes and smell of ink and the atmosphere of the printing studio.

q) How would you describe your style?

a)CUTE and SCARY!

q) Do you go through any certain processes while trying to produce your work?

a)My works are always a series, and have a story through.
So I usually make a story first and think about a medium to see what will fit the story. And lots of sketches and then start producing the works.

q) What are you working on at present?

a)I just finished a series for my Solo show at Metropolis Gallery in Lancaster, PA.
It was a story about 3 girls and sick cave seal. And I created 11 images for it. So I need a few days off to start a new project!

q) What about recent sources of inspirations?

a)I get inspire talking to my friends, watching film and walking around town.
Recently I went through a loss of my family member... so it get me thinking about life and death a lot, and circle of life and stuff like that.
q) What are some of your obsessions?

a)Fluffy and fat animals, science page of New York Times, reading about UFO, Traveling new places, finding a new ice cream flavors, drawings of Seals and mushrooms ( could be a sculptures,too!), receiving and writing postcards, hats, and cooking something from country that I've never been.

q)Which galleries have you shown at and which galleries would you like to show at?

a)I showed at Flux Factory, Headquarters gallery, Metropolis Gallery, Compound Gallery, MF gallery, etc...
And I would love to show at Jonathan Levine gallery and La Luz de Jesus Gallery.

q) If people would like to contact you, how would you like to be contacted?

a)E-mail through my web site http://www.ayakakeda.com/

q) Do you have any suggestions or advice for artists that are just starting out?

a)Be open for whatever comes. Travel, read, watch films oh and have friends who always inspire you helps!
And just a technical thing, but having your own website really really helps!!!

q) Who are your favorite artists?

a)Hokusai, Kokuhou, Utamaro, Goya, Shigeru Mizuki, Hayao Miyazaki. Kiki Smith, David Sandlin, Camille Rose Garcia, Emir Kusturica, Pedro Aldomovar,Jean Pierre Jeunet, Jan Svankmajer, and folk/outsider artists. (I'm sure I'm leaving out a lots of atists!)

q) What books are on your nightstand?

a)Now 3 books:
“Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris
“A Wild Sheep Chase” by Haruki Murakami
“Matango- last revenge” by Tatsuya Yoshimura


q)….your contacts…

a)http://www.blogger.com/www.ayakakeda.com
aya@ayakakeda.com