The Photography and Sculptures of Mari Katayama
Mari Katayama’s photography uses her own body as one of her materials. Born with a rare congenital disorder, the artist had her legs amputated as a child, and at times, her sculptural work emulates the features of her body that the condition caused. The resulting work explores identity, anxiety, and other topics.
“Her belief is that tracing herself connects with other people and her everyday life can be also connected with the society and the world, just like the patchwork made with threads and a needle by stitching borders,” a statement says. “In addition to her art creation, Katayama leads ‘High heel project’ in which she wore customized high-heeled shoes specially made for prosthesis to perform on stage as a singer, model, or keynote speaker. The motto of this project is to take advantage of any means including art and disabled body if it helps to expand the ‘freedom of choice’ for those in desperate need.”
The surreal ceramic sculptures of Malaysia native Chao Harn Kae are both strange and humorous, combining creatures and appendages with delicate textures. The Hong Kong-based artist’s dreamlike works range in size and mood, as the figures bounce between evoking playfulness and timidness. His charge has been described as “unraveling humanity while remaining true to human nature.”
Tina Yu, a Chinese-raised, New York-based artist and designer, creates hand sculptures, which are used as pendants. These polymer clay pieces are painted with acrylics, and they move between delicate reflections of nature’s flora and fauna and something much bleaker.
Chiharu Shiota has called her thread installations “drawings in space.” Using antique furniture and other objects evoking memory, her work has explored how we're tethered to the past and each other. Shiota's work, and her performance art, has recently taken over spaces at KODE-Art Museum of Bergen in Norway, Museum Nikolaikirche in Berlin, Kenji Taki Gallery in Japan, and SCAD Museum of Art in Georgia. The artist was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Christine Kim's practice is a blend of painting, drawing, and sculpture. The Toronto-based artist’s experimentations with layering and cutting works moves between both graphite drawings and painting. Each carry ghostly notes, each offering their own considerations of negative space.
Simply stated, “carving bones” may sound like a morbid activity. Yet, there’s both an elegance and hypnotic nature to the work of 
A self-described b-boy, Japanese sculptor 
Los Angeles artist 
