Kuma Slider 
by Akira Yoshida

2018 

Dimensions: 21.5 cm height x 17 cm width x 8 cm length

Material: soft toy, polymer resin, urethane and lacquer paint

About the Artist

Akira YOSHIDA (born 1976, Kanagawa, Japan) graduated from Tama Art University with a Bachelor in Fine Art in 2002. He is renowned to make sculptures with fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) painted over by airbrush.His painting skill by using airbrush is so exquisite and precise that it looks as if the patterns have been printed on the sculpture. His works are visually "kawaii"- pretty and cute, and follow pop aesthetics standards. However, the themes of his works ironically resolve around problems of contemporary society. This significant contradiction of the appearance and concept gives YOSHIDA's works unique and charming quality. He was commissioned by MTR, the biggest railway company in Hong Kong to create public art works for the City One Station (第一城), and by Nishi Ginza Chance Center, the most popular lottery stand in Japan to create a public art work in a form of Japanese traditional welcoming cat ‘MANEKINEKO’.