One whole tomato.
"Fruit III"
2017

The tomato-coloured cube contains a whole tomato. The outline of the tomato that appears on three edges is a projection of the actual tomato, which the artist purchased himself and sliced into 2mm pieces. Upon closer inspection, the outline is highlighted by German characters written just 2mm wide. Each side contains information about the tomato, an overview of the tomato, and a recipe that uses the tomato. When you open the pages, the cross-section of a tomato sliced to the same thickness as the paper (2mm) appears, and the diameter changes slightly as you turn the page.

At first glance, the surface appears to be a single red color, but it is actually a pearlescent white paper with a red print. This is an approach that is particular about the tomato-like feel, including the texture.

"Frucht Ⅲ" is a work that brings to fruition the duality of the intuitive action of transferring something other than a book into a book, and the visual effect of the piled-up thin layers evoking the image of a book as an object.

Regarding the Frucht series, the artist explains:

"When an object is cut into thin layers, many slices are produced. When these slices are stacked again, the shape of the original object emerges. The relationship between slices and objects seems to me like the relationship between a signature and a book. Moreover, CT, which is a method for observing the details of an object, achieves its purpose by looking at the cross section of the object. In order to observe the details of an object, I tried slicing it to the same thickness as a signature." As the artist says, he has accomplished an amazing feat. Not only is the method of expression impressive, but slicing a real tomato evenly from end to end into 2mm slices is an incredibly difficult feat. If you think you can do it, we encourage you to give it a try.

"2mm is a unit that I use frequently when making books. When using flimsy paper, or more specifically, when printing on paper, we often think of it as flat, but in reality, paper has a certain thickness. In this project, the quire, which is usually made by stacking and folding multiple sheets of paper, is constructed from a single sheet of cardboard, which makes one strongly aware of "thickness." I feel the expanse of the universe within a thickness of 2mm. Many interesting things happen within the 2mm of a slice of fruit, and in the process of making a book, there is truly a lot of drama within 2mm. I wanted to get closer to 2mm, and learn more about the possibilities of 2mm, so in this project I included written information within the thickness of a single quire.” says the author.

This work was the last one he produced during his time in Germany, and he moved to Japan in 2017 to embark on new creative endeavors. Through this work, he became more conscious of "getting closer to the subject," "turning familiar things into books," and "making books parasitize familiar things," and these thoughts remain major themes that are essential to his creative work to this day.