Mariko Mori

Mariko Mori’s collective work in video, performance, sculpture, and photography has produced a kind of New Age pop iconography that is equally informed by the sturdy traditions of Japanese culture and the more ephemeral nature of contemporary media. Setting herself apart from many artists who create a dystopian vision of the future, amidst the variety of her works humor and optimism are a constant. Mori does not fear the past, the present, or the future; in the flow of time she sees a constant renewal and rebirth, a chance to make the world beautiful again. Her large-scale alien landscape imagery presents brightly colored scenarios such as a kimono-clad goddess surrounded by cute alien cherubim floating over otherworldly waters. Like her Connected World series, Miracle (I–VIII) is both micro- and macrocosmic. The roundness of the imagery suggests portals in a ship or perhaps the viewfinder of a microscope. Are we looking in or out? Is this an internal space or are we privileged viewers at the point of creation? Is this terrestrial or extraterrestrial life? No matter our perspective, Mori allows us our own bubble of optimistic wonder in the sparkling delight of her constructed worlds.

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