Felt sculptures draw references from Yokai/Obake (preternatural monsters) in Japanese folklore, and literally the term means changes, state of transformation and shape shifting. Often they take form of disguised animal like cats, fox, and raccoon dogs. In other occasions, they disguise themself as a human, or appear in a strange form such as one-eyed child, and faceless ghost. I wanted to explore these preternatural monsters with sense of humor. They can appear in anywhere in any form. The materials and form attempt to bring their playful and mischievous nature.

Masako Miki has exhibited her immersive sculptural installations and detailed works on paper at institutions in the US and Japan. She has exhibited at numerous institutions including Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, the de Young museum, Fused Space, The Lab in San Francisco. Inspired by Shinto’s animism, Miki is interested in crafting new mythologies concerning cultural identity as social collectives. Miki was a recipient of 2018 Inga Maren Otto Fellowship Award from Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center in New York, and 2019 Master Artist Award and 2017 Artist Fellowship Award from Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, California. She has been a resident artist at the de Young Museum (San Francisco, California), Facebook (Menlo Park, California), and Kamiyama Artists in Residency (Tokushima, Japan). Miki’s work is in collection at The Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation, NY, Facebook, Inc., Menlo Park, CA, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA. Miki’s design collaboration includes LEGO group and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. She is currently preparing her solo exhibition at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. She is a native of Japan and currently based in Berkeley, California. She is represented by CULT | Aimee Friberg Exhibitions in San Francisco.