Yuichi Hirako's works are all based on the theme of imaginary plant species and their lush mixed spaces. In his artwork, natural spaces, human cultural behavior, and artificial objects are intermingled, much like our real living spaces, where it's often difficult to distinguish between natural and artificial objects. He anthropomorphizes plants, creating small creatures resembling tree spirits, and his compositions often have a tense, ritualistic quality, with occasional lighthearted and humorous actions to make his artwork more readable. While his works have strong narrative qualities, what he truly cares about isn't presenting specific stories, but rather the subtle details of everyday life and the ambiguous relationship between natural plants and humans.
The inspiration for Yuichi Hirako's "Plant Series" began during his time studying abroad in England. London has many pseudo-natural landscapes, such as parks, botanical gardens, cemeteries, or courtyards in museums and art galleries. These natural plants and green spaces are placed in the center of the city, and on weekends or during leisure time, Londoners habitually gather in these "natural environments," clearly enjoying coexisting with "nature." This phenomenon among urban dwellers struck Hirasaka as quite ironic and interesting. Born and raised in the countryside of Okayama Prefecture, Japan, his hometown was filled with forests and hills in a "natural environment," where wild plants and animals ran rampant, unaffected by human intervention, giving it a more primitive and natural feel.
Against this backdrop, Yuichi Hirako blends the lush, uncontrollable natural environment with the artificially controlled landscapes of the Western world in his artwork, which indeed combines the best of both East and West. Perhaps the wild nature in Hirasaka's works stems from the historical background of the Japanese cultural development of the "animism" belief that everything has a spirit, creating a supernatural reverence and awe for nature. For Yuichi Hirako, the concept of his works isn't to question or distinguish superiority or inferiority in Eastern or Western cultural ideas, but simply to organize the differences in these cultural backgrounds and construct an imaginary fantasy world.
If we examine Yuichi Hirako's works carefully, we can observe that he employs binary oppositions in his use of symbols across various aspects. For example, when viewers gaze at the "forest" scene in his artwork, they may feel that it resembles the layout of a "garden." Once viewers realize this argument, they may immediately think that the forest is actually an artificial garden. This demonstrates the binary nature of his artwork, playing with the viewer's perception of what is natural or artificial.
