Artwork by Masaki Hirokawa
Astaroth
静寂に凍る光
View on dolice.design ↗Buy print (Aluminum Dibond) ↗
All artworks are created entirely by hand, without the use of AI.
About the Work
When I created this piece, one shop after another in the city changed hands or was left abandoned amid the spread of an infectious disease. Walking through streets that were quietly changing, quietly falling into desolation, I conceived this artwork, and I remember working on it in silence. One thing I can say is that what one senses in the eyes of the figure in this piece is not sadness, loneliness, or any other negative emotion, but an eternal, unchanging strength.
The human heart has an instinct for self-defense: it resists change at all costs and perceives it as stress. To me, however, those changes could only appear as good omens, and I was certain that the world was in the process of ascending to a higher dimension along with its pain. At such times the wish to return to the former world arises as well, but I hold human adaptability and fortitude in deep regard.
The world remains in difficult circumstances even now, but the transition to a better world is a gradual climb, through repeated rises and falls. My hope is that you will not be defeated by the forces pushing you back, but will keep walking forward into the new world. That is the feeling I have placed in this artwork. I believe in the strength that human beings possess, and in the coming of a peaceful future overflowing with blessings.