Retirement Announcement

thank you always.

I have decided to retire from my writing career, which I have been active in for about five years.

Regarding the reason,

1) The slander and abuse I received on social media and in real life has caused me mental stress, making it difficult for me to continue my work as a writer.

While there were people who supported me, I also received a lot of criticism about the direction of my work, which was unpleasant. At first I endured it, but before I knew it, creating and posting my work became something I had to be conscious of how others saw me, and I was no longer able to continue with my fulfilling work.

② Doubts about the direction of the work

I had been deciding the direction of my work together with the galleries and other supporters, but I gradually began to lose sight of whether this was what I wanted to create, and before I knew it, it began to feel like a burden, and I was no longer able to enjoy creating my work wholeheartedly.As I mentioned earlier, I felt restricted by the opinions of others, and it became difficult for me to come up with ideas and create freely.

3) Financial difficulties

The production of my work requires a large amount of capital for production costs, including outsourcing the casting work, and I have been struggling with financial difficulties. There is no doubt that production such as casting is a difficult field without self-financing compared to general art works. Even the support from the gallery I was affiliated with was somewhat limited, so I have decided that it would be difficult to continue production.

④Interpersonal problems

Due to a temporary deterioration in my mental state, I began to have trouble with a number of people, including my former studio Lighthouse Kanata and my mentor, Koji Hatakeyama, and it became a very suffocating environment. Personally, I would have been happy if I could create freely, but the more I created, the more uncomfortable it became due to conflicts and differences of opinion, and ultimately, it became difficult for me to continue creating.

Regarding this matter, we recently terminated our contract with Lighthouse Kanata, and we would like to reach a settlement and apologize to all parties in the future.

Due to the above, as of today I have decided to retire from my writing career.

As for my future plans, I plan to return to my job as a company employee in August and continue to make a living. At present, I am not really considering the possibility of returning to being an artist and creating new works, but I don't think it will be possible unless some kind of solution is found in terms of finances or the environment.

Although it was a short period of time, I was initially only able to make small accessories, but I am extremely grateful to everyone involved for allowing me to participate in international art fairs and receive opportunities to shine. I regret that in the end I have disappointed everyone, but I hope to be able to utilize the experience and knowledge I have gained up to now in some way in a different field in the future.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far.

I wish all involved parties and artists continued success and happiness in the future.

Kodai Suga