Soshiro Matsubara

Soshiro Matsubara’s work is concerned with eroticism, desire, the lewd and the absurd. During an artistic process that begins with the accumulation of old magazine snippets and antiques, he pieces together assembled sculptures made from glazed ceramics, depictions of estranged or deranged lovers entwined. Much of Matsubara’s work has focused on Oskar Kokoschka and his bizarre and turbulent relationship with Alma Mahler, which saw him commission a life-sized doll of his ex-lover, a physical manifestation of his lovesickness and desperation. Matsubara says that he is attracted to the obsession, attachment, weirdness and humour of the story. Through the installations and paintings that Kokoschka’s love affair inspired, Matsubara raises questions of simulation, stimulation and the uncanny.