KANEUJI Teppei is an artist whose star has been in the ascendant in recent years. Using collages incorporating a wide range
of expressive media and various ready-made goods, he creates works that transform and overturn the conventional values and
established information and images of contemporary society. In his works, he combines figures, plastic containers, trees, pipes,
printed matter, and a variety of other everyday items to create a certain shape or scene. Objects and information originally produced
for a particular purpose or objective are temporarily invalidated by Kaneuji’s way of thinking. Like a word association game in
which everything has a meaning, each individual item assumes a relationship to the others, transforming the whole into a work of
art. However, the structure does not present an elaborately calculated concept. It is as though a child has gathered together a variety
of items that have appeared as if from nowhere, shoved them all into a toy box, and then, on a whim, stacked them like building
blocks. He uses this unique technique as if a child were creating a whole new world.
His preference for collage, which emphasizes the combination of unexpected elements free from subjective structural meanings,
does not end with the production of these works. Most recently, Kaneuji has been expanding his realms of activity into trialing
production techniques with expressive artists from other fields, including theater, music, and literature. At the Yebisu International
Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2017, Kaneuji Teppei, this multitasking practitioner, will present his first large-scale outdoor
work, which will serve as his own personal interpretation of the theme of this year’s festival, “Multiple Future.” The off-site artwork
White Discharge (Public Garden) foregrounds the funfair rides that were once such a big part of our recreational activities. Now that
children’s play has undergone a paradigm shift toward the digital world, the amusement park industry is – with the exception
of a few theme parks backed by a huge amount of capital – in decline worldwide. Focusing on relics of the amusement industry’
s heyday, Kaneuji reveals the locus of people’s desires with a critical and darkly humorous perspective. As it effortlessly transcends
the contradictory values of art and entertainment, one can only wonder how Kaneuji’s take on amusement parks will satisfy our
intellectual curiosity.

KANEUJI Teppei, White Discharge (Public Garden), Image for new Off-site Project Artwork, 2016