Japanese artist Hiroko Igeta creates jointed dolls that initially shock with their disarming posture and combinations but ultimately spotlight the human form as percivable art. Born in Tokyo in 1967, Igeta has honed her doll like sculpture skills since 1986. Her dolls feature movable limbs.
Igeta portrays actual people through her artistic eye, whether capturing their likeness without permission or via commissioned private works. This toe-step over consent and privacy lines causes some critics to deem her sculptures “disturbing.” The intimate violation and helplessness evoked by her dolls triggers instinctual distress.
However, when considered solely as sculpture, Igeta’s technical prowess seems undeniable. Each wrinkle, strand and pore receives masterful attention, amplified by subtle blue undertones mimicking veins beneath skin. One cannot deny the impressive time, effort and observation skills behind the realism achieved in each petite-framed work, whether ethically sound or not.
Igeta forces examination of where artistic boundaries lie when it comes to replica sculpture and photography. Her doll series surely discomfits – but does the ability to so tangibly capture human essence render her vision genius or invasive? As conversations around AI art ethics accelerate, Igeta’s work proves the themes timelier than ever.
