Sun of Unfortunately

Gallery 2 | Rua Red Art Gallery

The sun rises; a brand new day begins. And sometimes it starts with the word ‘Unfortunately.’ A word that signifies the mismatch between hopes and reality. ‘Thank you for your efforts, but unfortunately…’ Many of my mornings start with finding this word in my inbox.

I get it. Living in society isn’t always an easy game to play, but unfortunately. Sometimes I just want to scream! Maybe that’s the true way to use unfortunately. Do you feel the same?

Sun of Unfortunately is Seiko’s latest interactive artwork for Rua Red, inviting audiences into a reflection on this shared sentiment. She sculpted 100 clay “Brain Human” figures, each gazing toward the srising sun, each hand-molded, their imperfect shapes making each of them human.

Seiko’s work highlights contrast: light and shadow, new beginnings and harsh realities, human imperfection and incomplete feelings. It’s an exploration of her core practice, “World In Between,” a meditation on the dualities in everyday life.

Egg – Collection Of Emotions, 2021

Foyer

‘Egg – Collection of Emotions’ is a towering installation, six meters high and three meters wide. Each egg is crafted with soft, faux fur, and when they cluster together to form one large egg, they stir a mix of emotions in viewers.

Is it unsettling? Comforting? Do spectators feel a quiet horror or a gentle warmth?

This piece is a collection of exhaled emotions. Seiko reflects on how technology has reshaped human interaction, making conversations quicker and simpler and enabling billions of instant connections around the world. Each moment, countless emotions arise and disappear, fleeting yet profound, captured and embodied in each fur-covered egg.

Seiko Hayase

My practice theme is called “World In Between”.

Emotions which can’t be expressed with words, there’s my World In Between. I’m researching how to share my emotions using my language (art) to share with audience (society). For that, I’m focusing my practice to connect over the materials and over the art forms, and how to produce a space where art can feel familiar for a general audience here with my practice. Watercolor painting, sculpture, street art, community art, collaboration and sometimes I produce and direct art projects and workshops to involve the community…

As an artist, I explore it with society. It becomes my own language. “Not bound to materials or art form.” This especially suits my situation as an immigrant artist. Minorities struggle to get involved in society. Remove boundaries with society, as an artist but also as Seiko Hayase myself. For that my practice became wider and I try to stay focused on one project at a time, giving my full power to what is in front of me.

Current activity – Lavit Gallery, Cork 2024 with Deirdre Frost / LHQ gallery Solo exhibition 2024, Cork / OUTPOST gallery Members show 2024, Norwich UK / Cork Midsummer Festival 2023 / K-FEST 2023 2nd-4th June 2023 / Upcoming – Solo exhibition at Ballina Arts Centre, Mayo March-April 2025

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