David Bickerstaff

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Tatsumi Orimoto A Cosmic Chaos

Waugh Office Production 2022

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"Wow! So pleased that my short film about the artist Tatsumi Orimoto has won Best Short Documentary AND The Audience Award from the Fine Art Film Festival, California. Thank you @veniceica for a great festival and your kind support for the film" - David Bickerstaff.

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A portrait of the the artist Tatsumi Orimoto, directed by David Bickerstaff and produced by Waugh Office, revealing the depth of inquiry and humour of this internationally renowned artist.

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"I aspire to create art which is not perceived as art, with freer and freer ideas exploring more and more diverse materials. If viewers are surprised by my artwork as they never thought such an expression could be considered art that means they fall right into my trap. Even with these kinds of eccentric artworks my tenderness and commitment oozes from my life.
While watching the great current of art history, diverse genres of expression such as religious painting, court portraiture, impressionist painting and abstract painting emerged, and the truth is that even artworks that were not accepted as

such at the time can eventually merge into the mainstream art history. Such a chaotic cosmos of the art world really fascinates me."  - Tatsumi Orimoto.

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Known for his seemingly bizarre activities such as "The Bread Man”, where he appears with his face obscured with French bread sticks, this persona is a clear example of what Tatsumi describes as “Communication Art”.

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The more recent "Art Mama" series has captured the public’s imagination as it provided an insight into the way an artist took a universal theme such as ageing and transformed it into an inspirational portrait of intimacy. "My mother is 91 years old and has become unable to walk by herself. Perhaps, the worldview may be tougher on her existence, but she looks glorious in my work!"

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Often incorporating found materials and elements of humour he has ensured that his art is not allowed to drift too far from the lived realities of most people. In the era of instant imaging his strategy seems like a prophetic paradigm, revealing the importance of photography in the construction of identity and memory: to hold onto our experiences we have to become producers of our own mythology.