Comments from the judges on the award
The exhibition is somewhat silly, with posters of haniwa clay figures and old newspapers reporting on a "soiled" civilization, but there is a grandiose creativity (or delusion?) at work there. A world that could have been, either in the past or the future, is depicted through mass media. If that were all, it would be a common theme, but by looking back on it from a future point of view, it is given a retro representation. It is an astonishing leap of power. (Noguchi Reiichi)

Title of work and artist statement
Doomsday records

We live our lives being consumed by destruction and birth. We face "change" and ponder what "life" is.
We are living in a storm of destruction. Face the change and ponder about what life is.

(From left)
Green Sea (free park28), Green Sea (free park25), Green Sea (free park27)
green sea(free park28), green sea(free park25), green sea(free park27)

He draws the freedom he sees in himself. Right now, he sees it in the green ocean of rice fields, the lines of his drawings, and the movement of people.
I am drawing my image of freedom. I find human movement in what now looks like a green sea of paddy fields and drawing lines.

(From left)
Carbohydrate addiction, Ramen (noodle) addiction, potato addiction, friend addiction
Sugar Addiction, Ramenaholic, Potatoholic, Friends Addiction

By depicting dependency, I can get a glimpse into the way people live their lives. I can look at life. For me, that act in itself is a very positive thing.
Examine people's lives by depicting addiction. Probe into our lives. It is a very positive thing.

Sleeping Garden
Suitei

He feels a strong affinity with gardens, which create an "ideal worldview" between private property and the outside world, and while researching the views of nature and ideas in gardens, he paints his own idea of a "utopia."
Depicting my utopia by studying ideologies on nature and gardening. I feel a resonance with "garden", which creates an ideal world between private property and the outside world.

Comments from the judges on the award
This was a competition that clearly reflected the trend towards diversification in contemporary art. I was particularly drawn to the impact of Lee Seung-jih's masterpiece and the delicate minimalist poetry of Yamaguchi Ryotaro. I was also drawn to the work of Okuno Tomoe, who won the Individual Award, for using monochrome photography as a medium, yet using red lighting to create a special sensual atmosphere. (Tatehata Akira)

Title of work and artist statement
We are granules.

Using the keywords "deformation of motifs" and "interpretation," his creative endeavors center on his interest in the deformity of living creatures' bodies, including his own.
My creative works are based on my interest in deformities found in bodies of living creatures, including mine, with two critical keywords: "deforming the motif" and "translation".

(From left)
Forest for you, two checks, building blocks check, invisible man XXL
The master of woods, two checkered, checkered of blocks, Invisible man XXL

Things that I have given meaning to and bound. I carve them, copy them, and overlap them. Before you know it, they are freed from me and become a forest. A forest for you.
What I attach meaning to and limit. Dice them up, duplicate them, and patch them together. They will be emancipated from me and become woods. It is woods for you.

(From left)
Night of Eden, Day of Eden, The Cosmic Tree, Characters
The Night of Eden, The Day of Eden, space tree, The Character

This series of works is a narrative expression of the intense emotions that arose during the two years of my master's degree, and is a compilation of my own inner world.
This series of art works narrates several incidents caused by my intense feelings throughout the two years of my master's degree and summarizes my spiritual world.

Comments from the judges on the award
Contemporary painting is currently in the midst of a torrent of new technology, materials, and sociality. Despite facing difficulties in opening up new possibilities for painting, Takao Takao boldly takes on the challenge without relying on narrative or quotation. This is something that I highly commend him for. (Goto Shigeo)

Title of work and artist statement
(From left)
Ships, dinosaurs
Ship, Dinosaur

I explore how images function through my paintings. I aim to create changeable images like those born from fossils, images that change like dinosaurs.
Try to understand how an image functions by painting. Aiming to create like the image of dinosaurs, we try to piece together by examining fossils.

Comments from the judges on the award
Grand Prix winner Takada Maru's work transforms the words of a diary that was never meant to be shared with anyone into decaying letters, creating a new landscape in a public space. The dynamism of the most personal emotional movements being transformed into lines, shared with others, and generating new meaning vividly conveyed the essence of painting and left a strong impression. (Yabumae Tomoko)

Title of work and artist statement
Born broken (wrong word)
Be born while broken (a word full of mistakes)

Draw pictures, show pictures, look at pictures. Why can humans, why can I, not let go of this desire? Unravel the impulse back to its origin.
Drawing, showing, and appreciating pictures. Why are people, including myself, unable to stop doing those deeds? I will probe into the origin.

Comments from the judges on the award
At first glance, Zhao's work, which overlaps God and AI, may seem inappropriate. However, if we consider that both are beings that are the condensation and expression of human desires and hopes, we can say that they share a fundamentally common root. It is an interesting conceptual work in which an existence based on collective memory intersects with personal memories of love. (Kimura Eriko)

Title of work and artist statement
Love, Simulation, Spine, Electronic Dictionary
love, simulation, spine, digital dictionary

When Zhao dated someone who spoke a different language, he used AI tools to intervene in their interactions and relationships. Based on this short and sad experience of love, Zhao created the image of the God of Love in the modern era.
When dating someone who spoke a different language, Zhao tried to intervene in their interactions and relationships with AI. Based on this short and sad love experience, Zhao has created a look at the god of love in the current era.

Space Full of Rules (Through You)
Space full of rules (through you)

The waves of presence emitted by someone who was once there but who I cannot meet eye-to-eye with reach me, but they pass through my body, making my existence fade away.
I cannot see their eyes, cascading spirits left behind by people who had been there and went through my corporeal form, which will dilute my existence.

(From left)
≪ ≫, self-portrait
≪ ≫, Self-portrait

Rather than imagining a picture and then drawing it, the image of the picture was created by first moving my hand and then drawing.
I don't draw a painting according to my plan, but rather to have ideas from drawings I make by freely exercising my brush.

Rephotograph

I notice that when people look at a photograph, they often talk about the subject. The "photograph of" is treated as something that cannot be seen. I am interested in the "photograph of" part.
When people look at a photograph, they often find themselves talking about the subject. "A photograph of~" is treated as something invisible. I'm interested in what is called "photograph" by focusing on the invisible aspects.

By far
Haymaker

An amazing drawing. I had fun drawing it.
I enjoyed painting. This is the best.

Comments from the judges on the award:
The phrase "Onkochishin" (learning from the past to create something new) came to mind. It means familiarizing yourself with and studying old knowledge and experiences to gain new insights and principles, and his works are a perfect example of this. He says that he has been playing with washi paper at home since he was a child. By hardening washi paper, which has been used since ancient times, with resin and painstakingly pasting different colored pieces one by one, he is able to create a unique softness and texture in his three-dimensional works. Now a graduate student, he also exhibited at AATM as an undergraduate, and made a strong impression. This time, he showed us his steadily evolved work. (Hirono Kenichi, Director and General Manager of OCA TOKYO)

Title of work and artist statement
Detach and Adhere

At the moment when I pasted down a piece of paper, I felt as if a visual unit was being released from my eyes.
At the moment of pasting "one paste" of paper at a certain time, a sensation came as if a visual unit was released from the eye.

Dreamlike Phantom Limb
dreaming phantom limb person

Even if it does not exist with mass or have a will, when your face is stuck there it creates a sense of incongruity.
Even if the gravity or intention does not exist, you can feel the incongruence when the face sticks.

Sky and Light
sora hikari

Taking the small light that fills our daily lives as a motif, I created small and delicate sculptures out of ceramic clay, expressing scenes and landscapes where something sparkles in a quiet place.
Modeled on a sliver of light, I have performed delicate work depicting something shining in a serene plece.

(From left)
Wash away sins, heart pounding
Forgive our sins, My heartbeat

Using the local dialect, Mandarin, and traditional Chinese sheets, the show expresses the family's thoughts, conflicts, and the true feelings and experiences of those involved in "LGBTQT+ issues."
I am expressing my honest feelings, struggles, and opinions from my family about being involved in the LGBTQ+ movement by utilizing local dialect, Mandarin, and traditional Chinese sheets.

Comments from the judges on the award
Through Li's work, we witness journeys where small, intimate journeys overlap with larger stories. The journey of searching for one's own identity overlaps with a journey of meeting one's mother and grandmother, and then with larger encounters with one's home country and the social position and history of women. The paintings, painted with overwhelming artistic skill, are reminiscent of realist and socialist paintings, but one could also say that they deliberately touch upon these while depicting the conflict between small and large stories that exist in the stories of individuals and nations. I am pleased to have come across such a masterpiece after such a long time, and I have high hopes for further development in the future. (Imamura Yusaku)

Title of work and artist statement
"Call me by my name"

The theme of this work is the image of Korean mothers of my mother and grandmother's generation, who lived strong lives while harboring diverse identities amid the social adversity of the post-war period.
This depicts Korean mothers, whom generations of my mother and grandmother belong to, who had lived strong throughout the maelstrom after the war with a complex identity.

Comments from the judges on the award
Wada Sakura reinterprets paintings as having interchangeable "back" and "front," reversing entrance and exit, and what is mainstream and what is not, creating a chain of images that are open to complex senses that go beyond just "seeing." The "back" and "front" can be substituted with metaphors that go beyond painting, making this a masterpiece that can give rise to a variety of interpretations. (Yabumae Tomoko)

Almost all of Artist experienced student life under the coronavirus pandemic. Perhaps they found the opportunity to reexamine themselves, but it seems that many of them created their works from private, real-life experiences. I look forward to seeing their real-life experiences deepen even further in the future. (Tomio Koyama)

Title of work and artist statement
Main/Dub

The artist uses the relationship between the work and the viewer to reconsider problems that arise in human communities, and attempts to negotiate with them using clues placed in the space.
Reviewing the problem in the human community through the relationship between audiences and art works. Following the clues dispersed in the space to negotiate again.