Kinkeshi

story
: I bought this at a flea market in somewhere like the Battersea kindergarten. It was close to the RCA sculpture studio and also close to where I was living. In a anthology of works of the English sculptor Richard Deacon there was a photo of his studio with a kinkeshi phoenix on the table (kinkeshi are a kind of collectable figurines that are also erasers); when I saw it I felt a sudden connection between the local Japanese things I had liked as a kid and the greater world, and it really lifted my spirits. In London I did a lot of searching for materials for my works in charity shops and flea markets; one day I came across a huge pile of kinkeshi on sale for some reason; in there was a phoenix which I bought. I’ve kept it as a lucky charm ever since.

Mono / Things