We’re looking forward to introducing you to Kumi Hirose. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Kumi , we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Lately, going camping and interacting with nature has brought me joy.
Seeing the countless stars that you can’t see in the city, the huge flames of a campfire, unfamiliar plants and flowers, the smells of nature – experiences that you can’t get in your everyday life – fills my heart with fun.
City life is very convenient, but daily life can feel obligatory, work-related, and systematized.
So the experience of feeling the energy of nature, which you can never experience in the city, brings me deep joy.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a visual artist from Japan based in New York City.
I’m not only a painter on flat canvas, but I’m also a multimedia artist, who incorporates 3-D objects such as toys, metal chairs, wooden tables which are easily available in our daily life.
I’m choose strikingly bright acrylic pigments, and I often decorates them with colorful sparkling glitter, shiny acrylic jewels, and also sometimes uses 3-D constructed paper which creates 3-D assemblage works.
I have held solo exhibitions at Greenpoint Gallery in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint (2024), Space 776 Gallery in Manhattan’s Lower East Side (2023), and Colorida Art Gallery in Lisbon, Portugal (2018).
I’m continue to create artwork now and participates in monthly group exhibitions throughout New York City, including at the Williamsburg Art History Center in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, and the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition in Brooklyn’s Red Hook.
I’m very emotional, but creating artwork helps me to calm down everyday.
Creating art is indispensable for me to survive, just as food and sleep is now indispensable in our life.
Recently, I’ve been thinking about collaborating my work with fashion, and I’ve been working on designs for T-shirts and bags.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
What severs bonds between people is when trust is once relied upon and then that trust is betrayed.
Lying, talking bad about someone behind their back, cheating…
These are all ways of severing bonds between people.
Nothing can repair them.
The person who betrayed, it means that you were never meant to be with them, and your relationship with them ends.
After that, I think the best thing to do is to build a good relationship with people new.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I learned that if I put in suffering, even if it feels painful, the results will be commensurate with my suffering.
When I was a university student, waking up at 4 AM every day and getting home from school at 11 PM was suffering; I felt sleepy, tired, and my brain feels fuzzy, but I later went on to win numerous awards.
I believe that suffering hard work is always rewarded.
If there is such thing as effort that is not rewarded, then I don’t think it can really be called effort.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
I admire monks for their character.
This is because they have the right perspective in human relationships.
And when I find myself in a difficult situation,
I remember the monks’ training, which the “Four No-Doings”, where they hover between life and death and practice the four “no-no” practices of not eating, drinking, sleeping, or lying down for nine days.
Learning that there are people out there who have most trained harder than me that is what supports my heart and keeps me going.
That’s why I admire monks character in my life.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. When do you feel most at peace?
The times when I feel most peace are
when I am in a relationship with people, when there is heart-to-heart communication.
I feel the most nourished and at peace.
Harmonious, warm heart, peaceful connections with good people are the most important motivation for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kumi-hirose.com/
- Instagram: @kumimi_hirose
- Other: Email address : [email protected]
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