2024

Sumo Kō - The Paradoxical Charms, Casa d'Arte gallery, HCM, Viet Nam

“ What happens when the artist becomes the subject of their own work?“ Sumo Kō originates from the desire to spread the freshest emotions from an image traditionally bound by rules, now "unleashed," proudly welcoming new identities.

Solo Exhibitions

The author confronts the social pressures and norms he endured, reflecting society's oppression of gay men through this character. Not just stopping at art, Koichi transforms his painful personal experiences of being teased and scorned into a powerful weapon to challenge norms about masculinity and femininity.

Each work is a dynamic image through kaleidoscope effects, a form that is ever-changing, multi-colored, with each slight movement creating a combination of distinct images, light, and colors.

One of the main themes explored in Sumo-Kō is the image of Sumo in ballet costumes and postures. Two opposing images but with similarities. Both are images within strict standards of appearance, rigorously trained from a young age, two extremes at opposite ends of the gender spectrum, both confined within frameworks. The beauty of both images is highlighted through grace and balance, as a metaphor for the boundaries and prejudices that have now been blurred through the kaleidoscopic lens.

Breaking away from the rules, sumo is free to create different versions of himself. With overflowing energy and joy, he does not hesitate to wear pleated skirts, relax, and enjoy the manifold beauty of the outer and inner worlds.