Artwork Description
Eri Imamura – Always Late A
Dimensions: 32.25 x 28 x 6.25″ on panel / 26 x 28 x 3.5″
Year: 2022
Medium: seed beads, cut beads, 24k gold beads, antique Japanese kimono, stuffing on wood panel
Living in this contemporary rapid world, I feel that time is always chasing me or I have to chase time. People today feel that there is no time left; there is no time to rest, no time to think, no time to make it right, no time to feel anything. People cannot stop running. There are so many problems and issues to consider and solutions to be sought, but people have no time for them. We are tied up with time bombs. The problems are piling up more and more every day, and time is running out.
“Always Late A” is a skirt, part of a dress set, for “Always Late”. On the left side of the skirt, there is a white rabbit listening to the tick tock sound of a clock with a nuclear icon, and the clock is chained to the berry button. This implies the serious time limit of the nuclear waste problem that people have ignored for ages. It is coming back to us now as a time bomb. On the right side, there is an hourglass saying “TIME KILLS” and a medicine Buddha with a COVID icon on his chest. There is a big lotus flower, representing a sacred creation, coming out of his head, along with a lotus and 2 carnation flowers. The flower language means mother love and represents a uterus and ovaries. This represents another time limit in modern society for women to give birth. On the left thigh, there is a letter in a glass bottle saying “Do you feel any(thing)?”. On the left side there is a time bomb purse saying “always late”.
“Always late B” is the top for the dress. On the waist there are several time bombs tied up showing “late”. On her breasts there are eyes looking at a mushroom cloud on the left eye, and a lotus flower representing fate on the right eye. On both shoulders, there are sweets with cute time bombs with the sounds “tic Bang!, and toc Bam!”. On the right arm, there is a candle with the nuclear icon lit up on one side and blown out the opposite side. The right hand holds a smart phone taking a selfie with a smart watch saying “late”. On the left arm there are sun and moon balance icons above a lotus, and a bent spoon saying “there are no spoon”, which symbolizes enlightenment. The left hand holds a time bomb purse.