Rings, 2020 ©️Kensuke Koike courtesy of Open Doors Gallery

Kensuke Koike’s art exists in the space between sculpture, photography, and performance; as such, just one medium may not convey the full scope of his body of work. Primarily using vintage postcards and found images, Koike physically manipulates photographs, cutting, disassembling, and rearranging elements of the image to create an entirely new work. His final products are often witty and sardonic, showcasing his keen eye for detail and his ability to fully transform an image both physically and conceptually.

Uplift, 2020 ©️Kensuke Koike courtesy of Open Doors Gallery

Like a sculptor with a block of marble, Koike has a talent for identifying and uncovering the potential, and the hidden inner life, of an otherwise mundane photo. Of his attraction to working with found photos, the artist says, “The images I find are mostly forgotten and neglected. I began to use these images and vernacular photos to try to give them a new life, and a new meaning.” Koike often prefers to work with only the material inherent to each image, neither adding nor removing elements from the photo, but instead, simply rearranging them.

In his image The Prayer, a young boy, dressed smartly in a suit and gloves, stands with his hands clasped together, as if in prayer, gazing softly upward in front of a marble fireplace. In Koike’s alteration of the image, he’s cut out triangle-shaped pieces of the photo, resourcefully making use of the existing shadows and dimensions within the background of the image, to create a floating diamond just in the boy’s line of sight. With just two simple cuts to the photo, Koike entirely transforms the intent and impact of the image from innocent and vaguely religious to sci-fi-esque and entrancing.

Prayer, 2012 ©️Kensuke Koike courtesy of Open Doors Gallery

“Photography, seen through a monitor, is two-dimensional, but every physical object, a piece of paper too, has its physicality,” Koike says of his work’s sculptural tendencies. His pictorial work, despite the nature and limitations of two-dimensional art, also possesses an implicit sense of movement and theatricality that is more explicitly realized in his video work. On social media, Koike’s video documentation of his process adds a playfulness and humor that still images, by nature, fall short of fully capturing.

Laundry (video documentation), 2018 altered postcard, Courtesy of Postmasters Gallery and the Artist

In his work Laundry, a sepia-toned woman, glancing coyly out of frame, poses with one hand akimbo and the other gracefully gesturing as if in greeting. In Koike’s process, he has cut out the woman’s gesturing arm and tilted it slightly towards her, changing her wave to a knowing salute. The work takes on an even deeper personality when viewed on his Instagram; in the video, Koike uses the lever behind the postcard to move the woman’s hand, covering and uncovering her face. Accompanied by a clicking noise, a strobe light, and the caption “paparazzi,” the woman’s intent changes yet again, this time from salute to an attempt at shielding herself from the lens of a camera—a crafty, self-aware commentary by Koike.

View more of Koike’s work here.