MARCH 5, 2023 / JOHNNY

“Anatomy of Burial (It’s Only a Paper Moon)” by Keita Sagaki | images courtesy the artist

It’s been a minute since we featured manic doodler Keita Sagaki but one of his artworks is currently on view at the Daimaru Art Gallery that’s connected to Tokyo Station. And like all his other works, the maddening complexity is only revealed upon close-up.

Measuring 91 × 178.5 cm (about 3 ft x 6ft), the artwork is large so it’s pretty easy to get up close, at which point the doodles being to reveal themselves. The massive 1000 yen replica is titled “Anatomy of Burial (It’s Only a Paper Moon)” and was created back in 2019 as a tribute to the Japanese artist Genpei Akasegawa, who used banknotes as his creative medium during the 1960s as a form of rebellion against the Westernization of his culture.

“He intended to kill the value of ‘money’ that were symbols of power and authority,” explains Sagaki. “Today, nearly 50 years after his work, I think Paper money’s mythology is already killed by the rise of cashless system and virtual currency. Under such situations, I tried to dissect and bury it by re-producing thousand yen bill in my create style (and mourning for paper money’s death).”

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Source: A Maddeningly Complex Ballpoint Pen Replica of a 1000 Yen Bill by Keita Sagaki