There is a muscular eloquence to Junichi Kakizaki's constructions. He describes himself as a floral artist — not an ikebana (flower arrangement) master — and has won awards for his interpretation of the traditional Japanese art form. He considers his works to be contemporary art — either installations or performances.
In the dance production "New Life," a stunning vision of decay created in collaboration with female Swedish butoh dancer Su-En, Kakizaki builds a nest of branches around the performer. He thrusts violently colored stalks into twigs, strews petals over the stage, forcefully fills the air with flower heads as Su-En rises, and weaves a new landscape on the landscape of her body.
"New Life" was commissioned by the city of Uppsala in Sweden to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the birth of its favorite son, the scientist Linnaeus. Linnaeus' botanical language was used as a code for human sexual behavior, with stamens and pistils described as brides and grooms, and Kakizaki works with the sensuality of his withering flowers; fleshy lilies, maiden marigolds, their seeds and sexual parts worked into the dancer's hair in a savage fruitfulness and dry, flimsy rot. Delicacy plays against strength, decay against a relentless sense of potential life.