Rio Tashiro

Rio Tashiro (born in 1999) is undoubtedly among the most promising lacquer artists of his generation. Possessing remarkable technical mastery, he stands out from his contemporaries with a boldly singular body of work.

His Ethos series offers a geometric representation of humanity, where human figures take on the appearance of Rubik’s cubes. The polystyrene forming the core of his sculptures acts as a skeleton, gradually brought to life through the successive accumulation of urushi layers. This is a metaphorical genesis, in which the being slowly emerges from the very process of lacquering.

At the conclusion of this painstaking work, the ornamentation—executed using a variety of traditional techniques—embodies the historical depth and expressive richness of the lacquer art.