Born and based in Tokyo, Shintaro Miyake is a highly esteemed artist of the Japanese New Pop Art movement who experiments with a variety of mediums that range from frieze-like color pencil sketches, sculptures to live performances. The present lot is a creation from one of his live action paintings during which Miyake directly engaged with the audience by dressing up in a hand-made costume of one of his recurring characters and literally included himself by performing the painting process. He explains, “to wear the character costume is an expression of making a portrait of myself”.

His signature cartoon-like subjects are variations of the character “sweet-san” which is characterized by an elliptical head, cartoonish smile and lanky, boneless limbs. Beneath the facade of innocence from the light-hearted, humorous tone of the artwork, Miyake explores mythological and classical themes that pertain to rather macabre concepts of the passage of time and afterlife. His delicate creations effectively convey the reality of the dichotomy between chaos versus serenity within the contemporary society, as well as the memories and bygone innocence of youth.