“POLYPTYCH - NOEL 2012” commissioned by CHANEL (2012)

“POLYPTYCH - NOEL 2013” commissioned by CHANEL (2013)

“GU TimeLine” commissioned by FAST RETAILING CO., LTD. (2014)

“POLYPTYCH - COCO SHOOT” commissioned by CHANEL (2015)

“From New York to Tokyo” commissioned by GUCCI (2015)

“LAST PHOTOBOOTH - LOUIS VUITTON x Jake & Dinos Chapman” commissioned by LOUIS VUITTON (2017)

“TAMBOUR HORIZON” commissioned by LOUIS VUITTON (2017)

“THE ARCADE” commissioned by COACH (2018)

“陸奥の 安達原の黒塚に 鬼籠もれりと言うはまことか (UN)KEEPALL” (2021)

“陸奥の 安達原の黒塚に 鬼籠もれりと言うはまことか (UN)KEEPALL (1.0: 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0) 1.0” (2022)

“THE ULTIMATE OTHER” produced by Frieze Studios (2022)^[3]

“年ごとに 人はやらへど目に見えぬ 心の鬼はゆく方もなし WHITE2BLACK 11072023” (2023)

“Beauty and Generosity between us, not division/ 私たちの間にあるのは分断ではなく、美と寛容である” produced by 茶美会, in collaboration with Theaster Gates (2024)^[5]

“年ごとに 人はやらへど目に見えぬ 心の鬼はゆく方もなし WHITE2BLACK 11062024” (2024) ^[6]

A work of relational art in the form of an authentic full Japanese tea ceremony, presented at Hoshunin Temple, Daitokuji in Kyoto, October 31st - November 8th, 2023. The authentic full tea ceremony “追儺 黒節分/WHITE2BLACK” was held on October 31st, November 4th and November 7th, for three days, by invitation only for three people each day. And the exhibition “跡見:追儺 黒節分/Atomi:WHITE2BLACK” was held on November 3rd, 5th and 8th, each day by reservation only for 27 people, referencing the concept of Atomi-no-chaji. The principal guests at each authentic full tea ceremony were contemporary artist Theaster Gates, manga artist Hirohiko Araki, and ceramicist Raku Kichizaemon XVI.

The concept was “Information transmission and its (ingrained) distortion”. YAMAN treats the word “distortion” as ranging between both good and evil, and as a premise that when information is transmitted it always contains some kind of distortion, and after hundreds of years the distortions will have become ingrained and it will no longer be clear what the facts were. The fact that information from 500, 1,000, or even 2,000 years ago is still in existence means that there is a difference between “historical fact” and “official history.” In other words, there is a possibility that the will of the winners of the time, those in power and the establishment, in short, the will of the majority has intervened. In order to express this, YAMAN chose Sen-no-Rikyu’s tea ceremony, which has a history of 450 years, as his subject matter.

‘Oni’, ‘Sugawara Michizane’, and ‘Astro Boy’ were used as subjects juxtaposed with Sen-no-Rikyu, all of which were presented with the common factor of being ”dissidents”. Overlapping with Sen-no-Rikyu, the 1999 American movie ‘American Beauty’ was also referenced as a catalyst using a western linguistic system with an eastern context where the protagonist finds the American form of wabi-sabi and enlightenment just before his death.

In the waiting room, the over 6 ½ foot high buddhist statue of Oni used in “陸奥の 安達原の黒塚に 鬼籠もれりと言うはまことか (UN)KEEPALL” was exhibited. This statue is a link to the waka poem by Kamo-no-Yasunori-no-musume, which includes the word ‘oni’ and is quoted in the title of the work. The guests move on to the next room for ‘Usucha’ (a regular green tea) and find a 1963 Astro Boy animation cell displayed as a hanging scroll. YAMAN explains, “Astro Boy in the 1960s is not just a story of rewarding good and punishing evil. Racism and minority issues are well depicted. While robots are set up to have emotions equal to humans, they are not allowed to compete or fight equally with humans under the law of the “Three Laws of Robotics”. There are many stories in which Astro boy is discriminated against as a robot or plays the role of a dissident.” A hand-painted animation cell and a child's rice bowl of Astro Boy, which have appeared in YAMAN’s exhibits since then, were used for the first time here.

A work of relational art in the form of an authentic full Japanese ceremony presented at the HOTEL (THE MERCER) in New York City on November 6th-9th, 2024. The authentic full tea ceremony “黒節分/WHITE2BLACK∈division” was held on November 6th-8th, for three days, by invitation only for three people each day, and the exhibition “跡見:黒節分/Atomi:WHITE2BLACK∈division” was held on November 9th by reservation only, for 81 people on a single day, referencing the concept of Atomi-no-chaji.

The concept continues to be “Information transmission and its (ingrained) distortion”. In this work, YAMAN illustrates a juxtaposition of the Japanese tea ceremony culture and Japanese anime culture, and raises an issue by focusing on the shift from subjective aesthetics to objective aesthetics.

The culture of the Japanese tea ceremony matured through the subjective aesthetics of Sen-no-Rikyu, and on the 100th memorial of his death it shifted to objective aesthetics that asks, “How would Sen-no-Rikyu have approached it?” The subjective aesthetics that had developed by being disconnected from society was completely closed off from it by the Tsutomu Miyazaki paedophile serial killer incident of 1989. In order to break the ultimate closed status “Neon Genesis Evangelion” was created as a work that even adults could enjoy, and since then anime culture has shifted to objective aesthetics as global niche mass content.

Constructed from the viewpoint of Shintoism, pursuing the possibility that subjective aesthetics itself is a culture to be explored, this work presented an authentic full tea ceremony (a 3.5-hour sitting that included kaiseki cuisine and thin and thick tea) as a simulated experience of lost subjective aesthetics. In addition to the 1999 American movie “American Beauty” and the 1960s Japanese anime “Astro Boy” as catalytic references, the 1990s anime “Sailor Moon S” and “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” and from fashion culture, Martin Margiela's Spring/Summer 1990 collection were also used as cultural references from the era when relational art was at its peak.

A short film produced by Frieze Studios, released on Frieze.com on May 5, 2022, that follows the making of YAMAN NKYMN’s work “陸奥の 安達原の黒塚に 鬼籠もれりと言うはまことか (UN)KEEPALL (1.0: 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0) 1.0.” ^[3]

Featuring, in addition to YAMAN, the Hollywood-based actress Tao Okamoto, runway model Fernanda Ly, Los Angeles gallerist Kibum Kim, and Shoei Takeda, Executive Director of Nishi Hongwanji, the film probes (UN)KEEPALL and its theme of minority issues in the context of the anti‑Asian hate that arose in the United States during the COVID‑19 pandemic. ^[3]

Amid the pandemic, YAMAN focuses on the dual meaning of Oni in Japanese folklore—both “the plague itself” and “that to which one prays to ward off plague”—and develops the narrative by aligning Oni with a definition of the vulnerable who are distorted and conveniently exploited by human beings. He points out that the “contradictions imposed on minorities” exposed by the global pandemic are precisely what constitute anti‑Asian hate. The contrast between the minority status of Asian Americans and their role as scapegoats treated as a “model minority” comes to overlap with Oni.

YAMAN characterizes his work not as material but as ritual. He says that the Kei‑ha school tradition of Buddhist sculpture, the National Treasure Hiunkaku, and the waka by a Heian‑period poet used in the title are all essential elements to render that ritual authentic. He also regards Quentin Tarantino’s film Kill Bill as depicting Asian culture from a Western point of view, while suggesting that Tarantino’s love of Japanese grindhouse movies as an otaku may have helped him avoid discriminatory tendencies.

Tao Okamoto defines discrimination as the balance between love and fear tipping toward fear; Kibum Kim and Fernanda Ly speak about the value and place of Asians and Asian culture in American society, as well as a perspective in which the majority seek to misapply those structures.

Presented on August 6th, 2024 at a special venue added to the “Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei” Mori Art Museum exhibition in Tokyo. A collaboration between Theaster Gates and SABIÉ, for which YAMAN NKYMN is the creative director, a relational artwork in the form of an authentic full tea ceremony in which Theaster Gates, Reijiro Izumi, the head of SABIÉ, and YAMAN were the hosts.

This project was triggered by Theaster Gates being invited to “(跡見:)追儺 黒節分/ (Atomi:)WHITE2BLACK” held at Houshunin Temple, Daitokuji in November 2023. YAMAN was in charge of the planning part of the work, and the entire work was based on the exhibition structure and works of “Theaster Gates: Afro Mingei”. In line with the Japanese tea ceremony style it offered experiences of “waiting room” “tea offering,” “greeting and escorting” “kaiseki cuisine” and “tea ceremony”. In the “greeting and escorting” session, Gates, one of the hosts of this tea ceremony work, entertained the guests with a DJ set, one of the utensils of his exhibition.

The final experience, “tea ceremony”, was based on the concept of transforming “division” into “beauty and generosity” and aimed to erase the division between hosts and guests by having a total of 12 people (3 hosts and 9 guests) prepare tea for each other.

“陸奥の 安達原の黒塚に 鬼籠もれりと言うはまことか (UN)KEEPALL” - Hiunkaku, Nishi Hongwanji temple, Kyoto

Frieze Week Los Angeles - Rooftop in Downtown LA, Los Angeles, USA

“(跡見:)追儺 黒節分/ (Atomi:)WHITE2BLACK” - Houshunin, Daitokuji temple, Kyoto

“(跡見:)黒節分/ (Atomi:)WHITE2BLACK∈division” - HOTEL (THE MERCER), New York, USA