[Comment by Selector]

Ryota Shimamoto, both as a solo artist and in joint credits, has been selected for the Taro Prize four times, and works in various media including painting, pottery, photography, three-dimensional art and performance. The artist who exercises a strong influence over his work is Shusaku Arakawa, and in Shimamoto’s 2016 work “Living Funeral” – providing a unique interpretation of the Arakawa’s famous theme of immortality – the utilization of physical elements such as hair gained a lot of attention. While Shimamoto has been producing work on the theme of death, he is also attempting to develop new values from new perspectives – for example picking up discarded work by students and reusing it under provisional titles. On the other side of his peculiar and witty expression, a borderline between forming selves and others resides throughout, and his approach to work is overwhelmingly direct. Shimamoto’s imagination and his motivation for creation, like a water spring, never seem to cease. His work holds a certain strength that makes the viewer consider what he will create next and how he will go about expressing it. He is certainly one of the artists whose future activities I look forward to keeping my eye on.