The recent sculptures of Satoru Koizumi portray humans dressed in animal pelts, their expressions of naive purity offset by a sorrowful air of loneliness and anxiety. In Japan’s (and indeed, much of the world’s) hyper-civilized society, people are increasingly forced to walk a thin line between losing our animal instincts and navigating the world of today. Coming from a society where a high value is placed on things that are kawaii (cute), Koizumi’s work provides insight into the way that modern people have repurposed cuteness into a weapon to compensate for immaturity and powerlessness. Koizumi paradoxically expresses the weight of connections among nature, animals, human beings and society by examining contemporary situations involving anxiety and loneliness through his work. Born in 1983, Satoru Koizumi completed his Master’s in sculpture at Okinawa Prefectural University in 2009 and is currently based in Okinawa. His work has been well-received in Japan and beyond, and has recently enjoyed enormous success in Art Taipei and other large art fairs in Asia. This is his first solo show in the United States.