MOTOMICHI Interview
In this conversation, Mack Garrison interviews MOTOMICHI, a Japanese-born projection artist and animator based in New York. They discuss MOTOMICHI's journey into projection mapping, the evolution of VJing, and the influence of teaching on creativity. MOTOMICHI shares his exploration of fear as a theme in his art, cultural reactions to his work, and the artists who inspire him. The conversation concludes with advice for aspiring creatives and insights into MOTOMICHI's upcoming workshop on projection mapping.
Takeaways
MOTOMICHI's journey began with graphic design and animation.
He transitioned into projection mapping through VJing.
Teaching has influenced MOTOMICHI's creative process.
Fear is a central theme in MOTOMICHI's artwork.
Cultural reactions to art can vary significantly.
MOTOMICHI draws inspiration from various artists, especially Michel Gondry.
He emphasizes the importance of creating without overthinking.
MOTOMICHI enjoys nature and kayaking in his free time.
He believes in the concept of Ikigai, finding purpose in work and life.
MOTOMICHI encourages aspiring artists to keep creating and exploring.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Motomichi and His Work
01:05 Journey into Projection Mapping
05:08 First Experiences with Projection Mapping
07:16 Teaching and Its Influence
11:16 Exploring Monsters and Fear
15:17 Cultural Reactions to Art
17:00 Inspiration and Influences
18:06 Tattoo Culture and Personal Choices
19:30 Hobbies and Nature
21:41 Advice for Aspiring Creatives
23:17 Workshop Preview
24:34 New Chapter
Transcript:
Mack Garrison (00:02)
Hey y'all, what's up? It's Mack Garrison with Dash Studio and excited to continue our Dash Bash Speaker Series this week with the talented MOTOMICHI MOTOMICHI is a Japanese-born award-winning projection artist and animator based in New York. His work is known for the use of black, white, and red with minimalistic graphic elements. Inspired by cryptozoology and mythology, he creates monsters that can be both monstrous and endearing, confrontational and playful.
He's has exhibited globally in numerous museums. He's screened films at all the film festivals you heard of. MOTOMICHI, I feel like you have the longest list of awards I've ever seen here. It's amazing. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I have to admit, and I think I speak for every animator out there. At some point in time, we've always wanted to get into projection mapping ourself. You know, I feel like everyone has always kind of had that.
MOTOMICHI (00:41)
Thank you for having me.
huh.
Mack Garrison (00:56)
So, so excited to have you speaking at the bash this year and doing a workshop on it. How, how did you get into projection mapping originally?
MOTOMICHI (01:05)
How did it, you know, how I got started was kind of funny. So I actually studied graphic design and then I started doing animation. And then, but then I didn't really study like animation. I got into animation by learning Flash. So it was kind of heavy like in the web stuff. And then like, you know, like the friends that went to school with they kind of got into the motion graphics. And then I kind of felt like I missed the ball.
Mack Garrison (01:21)
nice, yeah, okay, I remember Flash, yeah, of course.
MOTOMICHI (01:34)
And then I was like, ah, it kind of sucks. I was like, you I really want to get, I tried really hard. So I started making a lot of animation. That's how I got into like a 2D animation. But then, yeah, well, I mean, yeah, also I was doing a lot of web animation, like flash animation online. And then, but I really wanted to go kind of beyond that. So that's when I actually started submitting my work to film festival. And then, but then I wanted more. And then, and I just thought that.
Mack Garrison (01:34)
Mmm.
Nice, just kind of doing it on yourself, on your own, kind of exploring it.
Sure. Right.
MOTOMICHI (02:02)
And I came across with this thing called VJing, video mixing. And VJing was pretty active that time in New York. So I guess I got to know someone I can remember. then I started showing up, this kind of VJ, get together kind of event. And I started doing VJing. And then always when you do VJing, so you do video mixing. Typically, people think it's VJing for the club. But then, since I did the...
Mack Garrison (02:05)
Mmm, sure.
Yeah
MOTOMICHI (02:30)
I was showing my, I started showing my work in a film festival. Some film festival or something kind of picked up. They saw my website or something, say, hey, your animation is going to be in our festival. By the way, I see that you do v-jane. You want to come and perform for a party. I started doing v-jane, but then the v-jane became more like instead of doing them club, I started doing v-jane on the stage.
Mack Garrison (02:48)
Nice, that's great.
interesting.
MOTOMICHI (02:57)
And so
that kind of became kind of like more like a projection. then that's the time that also later I found that a lot of VJs in, I think specifically like in Europe, like Central Europe, like Western Europe, these lot of VJs started kind of experimenting how you can actually do the projection onto non-flat surface. That's how we used to do it.
Mack Garrison (03:10)
Mm-hmm.
interesting.
MOTOMICHI (03:22)
And that's
where this kind of projection mapping software came in. And then, it or not, projection mapping has a strong root to the VJ culture. a lot of projection mapping software, including the one that I use, is developed by who used to be VJ. So it's kind of like a natural transition. And I was actually invited to a festival called Mapping Festival. And as a VJ,
Mack Garrison (03:39)
So how about that?
MOTOMICHI (03:47)
And somehow it didn't ring the bell. just somehow like I never reconnected the mapping to projection mapping. And then I did a gig, I did a performance with my friend, a musician. So after the performance, the producer came, hey, I'm just want to speak to you. And in the backstage, so now we want to pay you your fee. But would you be interested in us paying you the fee as a part of it as our software called MapMapper? And I was like.
You know, somehow I was, I guess I was in good moods, like, all right, yeah, I'll take it. Yeah, she gave me this copy. And that time is like in CD or DVD. I completely forgot about it. And then like three or four years later, I ended up picking up some, I got this, that time I was living in South America. And then I got approached by local government saying that if I can do some kind of public installation.
Mack Garrison (04:19)
You're like, why not? Let's try it out.
MOTOMICHI (04:44)
And I was like, there's such a thing as mapping. And I remember, I have this free software. I gotta use that. So I gotta look for it and I installed it. I think I can do this. So that's actually how I, so the first projection mapping I did was actually the large scale in outdoor. It was super stressful. Yeah, and it was kind of stressful because I never done it.
Mack Garrison (04:48)
yeah. I haven't even tried it yet. Let me open it up and see what it's like.
Wow, the very first time that every first time you did it, you were like, yeah, I could do this and projected on a building.
MOTOMICHI (05:08)
And I told them I could and then the whole context in Spanish so I had to like That's my third language, right? So it's like I signed in it's like, oh my god, I hope it's you know, then I want to just you know, I don't know I mean like they want to hate me or something. But anyway, so that's it. But then I really got in after that I really got into it
Mack Garrison (05:13)
some translation.
That's
really interesting. love, know, thinking back on it and even just as you described that story, it was always kind of a natural progression. You know, it's like, yeah, I could put some visuals behind the stage. yeah, we can project some visuals in here. yeah, maybe I can do something even bigger. What's interesting to me, well, actually let me ask you this. With that software you were talking about, Mad Mapper, is it still the same thing? Is that still what you use today? Wow, so that's something. So your whole career started by someone.
MOTOMICHI (05:49)
Perhaps.
yeah.
Mack Garrison (05:57)
Basically giving you this free software instead of a payment and you're like sure I'll give it a try and now that's like your career That's wild Yeah, you should reach back out what was the what was the project do you remember what that first one was in South America where you were projecting?
MOTOMICHI (05:59)
Yeah, I know.
Yeah, yeah, I gotta thank her. Yeah.
Oh
yeah, so that was the projection mapping in the center, central part of Kito. And that was, I think, 2012, I think.
Mack Garrison (06:18)
Mmm, okay, cool.
Wow,
okay, nice. And I imagine like, you know, any good project, you do it one time, you get interested, you're excited, and I'm sure someone saw it and said, hey, could you do this next thing for us? And it kind of starts to snowball a little bit.
MOTOMICHI (06:35)
Yeah, yeah.
from there, I started picking up like lot of projects in Ecuador, that time I was living there.
Mack Garrison (06:43)
Nice. And was this becoming your full-time gig at this point? Where you started to enough work and you're like, okay, maybe.
MOTOMICHI (06:47)
You know, I mean, thing is, I've
always been doing various different stuff. These days, I do more, but I would say, yeah, projection mapping or projection mapping related is definitely the main thing now.
Mack Garrison (07:02)
Nice, that's so cool. And I know you're teaching and before our call you were telling me that you were teaching a class over at NYU. Tell me a little bit about how you got into teaching. Were you always teaching while you were doing this or did there was a path that kind of brought you into it?
MOTOMICHI (07:16)
You know,
mean, the first before that, was actually I started I was like teaching, but I'm more like workshop. So I started doing the workshop for character design. Like I since my work is based a lot with the character and then the
Mack Garrison (07:26)
sure.
MOTOMICHI (07:35)
So I got really into this finding out how I create work and how other people can create. So I did a workshop. then from there, since I started doing projection mapping, oh, maybe I can do the workshop. So I started doing the workshop. then when I was living in Ecuador at that time, and I moved back to New York in, what is it, I guess 2016, I think?
Mack Garrison (08:02)
Okay,
sure.
MOTOMICHI (08:03)
And then since I was coming back in and I wanted to have some kind of something, you know, like solid, right? I started, so lucky I got the teaching job in Parsons, Parsons School of Design.
Mack Garrison (08:10)
Yeah, right.
great,
nice.
MOTOMICHI (08:20)
And then from there, I was asked to teach animation class. And then I actually wrote the proposal, say I can teach projection mapping. And I actually wrote the proposal to illustration department, because I wanted illustrators and animators to do it. And they didn't pick up. But the design technology department picked up.
Mack Garrison (08:28)
Have
Interesting.
MOTOMICHI (08:44)
So from there I started teaching there and then now I don't teach at the Parsons anymore, but I teach at SVA and then NYU. But I think it's definitely teaching is something that the kind of, know, like it sounds so cliche, but by teaching it, you kind of teaching yourself.
Mack Garrison (08:51)
great.
yeah, of course. Well, I'm sure it's kind of reminding you how to do some
of these various things that you're like.
MOTOMICHI (09:08)
It's kind of
really like forces you. Like for example, like, you know, we all use Photoshop in our studio, right? We think we know, but then once you do slightly different than you normally do, you have no idea. So it's like, in the first time I taught, I was like, yeah, it's so easy to teach, you I can teach like After Effects and stuff like that. But I was like, my, I just have no idea what they ask me.
Mack Garrison (09:12)
Yes, right.
yeah, right, exactly. You're like, I have no idea how to make this, I forgot.
Yeah,
you're like, I don't even know how to make that. So you're like teaching yourself, which is good. It probably keeps your it keeps your skills sharp, right? It's almost like sharpening a knife. You know, you don't become rusty that way. And I'm sure. here's a good question for you, MOTOMICHI Do you find that what you're teaching to your students also influences your own creative work that you're doing outside of it? Like you discover something new and you're like, I got to bring this into this next project I'm doing.
MOTOMICHI (09:34)
Yeah, so I have to study, which is great. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, think it's definitely the one of the things that I think is that I'm conscious about is that by teaching
basically like you force yourself to learn something new, right? inside of me, I'm thinking, my God, this is just so useless. I'm never going to use it. But guess what? Once you learn, it's like a vocabulary. can express, like you have another vocabulary to express something. So it's just, you know, it's not like immediate, but at same time, the fact that you already know, it's just basically you already know how to do it. So that becomes part of your kind of like data that you access when you do creative work.
Mack Garrison (10:10)
R.I.P.
Hmm
MOTOMICHI (10:35)
So I think for that way, it's definitely very, like it does influence my work a lot.
Mack Garrison (10:40)
I love
that you're kind of building up a toolkit. think all of us as creatives are always trying to have a bigger toolkit of ways of making things so I could see that. Well, tell me a little bit just to pivot the conversation. You know, I've got your Instagram pulled up right now and I'm looking at some of these really cool creatures that you develop. I mean, you definitely have a style, MOTOMICHI. I see this, you know, red, black and kind of white little monster that kind of keeps coming up throughout all your work in different places and utilizing different spaces.
MOTOMICHI (10:45)
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Mm-hmm.
Mack Garrison (11:09)
Maybe you speak to me a little bit on the development of this particular character. Where does he or she or them or they come from?
MOTOMICHI (11:16)
So I like to use monsters as part of my work, like core part of my work. The reason is that as an artist, we have certain themes that we always kind of deal with or explore or express. And in my case, I like to explore the feeling of fear.
or like something like the... I mean, yeah, fear is to me like more like universal language. And then the fear is obviously one of them, like, you love and fear and all that. And then the way I see monster is sort of visualized version of our fear.
And then, so I started reading about like mythical creatures and monsters. And then the first time I read somewhere that I think some book I read or can't remember, it said something like, since they, you know, without the access to any technology or science, know, the ancestors didn't have any means to understand or cope with the pains, you know, they have to deal with. And then, so by describing it, like what it is, as a form
of monster creature that makes it easier for them to deal with the loss of their families or the entire town get wiped out or something. So it's easier for them to say, let's say thunderbird, right? Just comes certain time of the year. And because of that, we lose all the crops, let's say. So I really like that sort of aspect of it. So it's sort of like visual language. And then just basically describing what fear is, but in the form of
Mack Garrison (12:30)
Mmm.
Sure.
Hmm.
MOTOMICHI (12:56)
monster.
Mack Garrison (12:57)
You
know, it's so interesting to me. I love that take on it, right? How it's universal. Everyone navigates fear. Everyone can relate to fear. But to ask you another question with it, you you could easily say love, you know, love, everyone knows love, everyone can relate to love. You know, you could have chosen love, but why choosing fear? Is it because there's like a stigma around it? You know, what gravitated towards that you think?
MOTOMICHI (13:10)
you
I mean, I think it's... Yeah, I know. I think it's maybe just because... Because there's something wrong with me. But I think it's... As an artist, think it's... We're all kind of skeptical of one way or the other. And we always look for truth in certain way. And in my case...
Mack Garrison (13:25)
But you're like, man, that is kind of dark.
No, no, no, you're just a creative. That's who we all are, right? We're all a little off.
MOTOMICHI (13:50)
I want to look for something which is very pure and very sincere. And then I think it is, and also the fact that the...
Also that it shows our weakness too. Let's say that, I mean, I can go on and on about it, like fear is something that we can easily be manipulated with. And we all know that how media plays and stuff like that. But I think it's just something about it to me that those stuff that it's easy to talk about love or comfort or pleasure, but then the pain or pain or fear is something that we don't want to talk about. So I kind of feel like this is something that we can kind of explore more.
by admitting or by facing it, I think we can be kind of sincere, nice to each other, I think. Yeah, I really think that. Yeah, just because sometimes, you we will do a lot of stuff that, just because we don't want to face something. I think just facing is very, very important.
Mack Garrison (14:38)
I really liked that. No, it's good.
No, I totally agree. you know, a follow up to that, I'm curious is, you know, you've shown your work all over the world. You've had installations in numerous countries. Have you noticed certain countries or cultures reacting to your artwork in like different ways? Like when you talk about fear, you know, are there any distinct countries that come to mind or how people react to your imagery or visuals that are different from other countries? Have you noticed that?
MOTOMICHI (15:17)
I think the funny thing was that I always been based in New York. I grew up in Japan, but the way I started my career as an artist was actually not actually from New York. My work was mainly picked up in...
in Europe, but specifically like places like Netherlands or Norway or Sweden or Eastern Europe. And then they tend to see, you know, see this kind of images, not necessarily dark or negative, but they tend to see in a way that they're kind of more, you can say they're more open, or maybe they just have different take on it.
Mack Garrison (15:38)
Sure.
Sure.
MOTOMICHI (16:00)
But then they don't really take it as negative thing. They take it as kind of like some part of something. I think that was kind of interesting. And then from there, I started showing my work in the US. But in the beginning, it's always been sort of like northern part of Europe, or like eastern part of Europe.
Mack Garrison (16:02)
Hmm.
Sure, nice.
Yeah,
interesting. Well, and I think you're right. I think there is a stigma around fear and and just what you said a second ago highlights just, know, sort of there's uncomfortability and trying to speak towards it. And so how do you visualize it? How do you articulate that? I love that your visuals are given a medium for people to consider and to speak towards fear through. I think is really interesting. You know, I'm always curious. I'm going to meet you. You know, we've we've
talk on the series to so many different artists and creatives who are so talented in their own right. I'm always curious, who are some of the artists the creators we're speaking with look up to? Who are some of the creatives out there whose work you really love? Who do you find inspiration from?
MOTOMICHI (17:00)
It's difficult. I mean, it changes, right? Like it depends on the time. But I think the first person that comes to my mind is actually Michel Gondry. Also part of it is that they are part of the reason that is that they are because I love music video. And that's something I wanted to do more and I still do. But, you know, just kind of, it's kind of industry changed.
Mack Garrison (17:11)
Mmm.
sure. Yeah.
MOTOMICHI (17:26)
and it's kind difficult to find that. But I think to me, like his stuff is so good that when I look at it, I get jealous. That's how good he is. Even after all these years, I see something, it kind of gives me pain to watch his stuff because it's kind of like, why didn't I do this? Or like, how could he do this? But that's how much I re-adore his work.
Mack Garrison (17:36)
That's a good sign that you're doing a great job if you're getting jealous.
That's great. I love that. I love that. You know, I know you're always looking for inspiration in different ways, too I know you have a tattoo project that I think I saw that Ashley was telling me our producer about Have you done any or have you do you have any of your work tattooed on yourself at all? Have you ever gone that far? Yeah
MOTOMICHI (17:52)
yeah.
myself. It sounds
terrible, but I don't have any tattoo. But I mean, I have a very good explanation for this one. It's just because, you I was born and raised in Japan. And then in Japan, having tattoo is a whole different issue. It's just basically that having tattoo is not considered to be fashion at all. It's almost like, I mean, then we call it a fashion tattoo, this says. But if you have a tattoo,
Mack Garrison (18:10)
No tattoos.
Mmm.
MOTOMICHI (18:35)
put it this way, if you have tattoo, most likely you cannot go to public baths, sometimes you are even prohibited to enter a beach. It's because of this Japanese mafia culture called Yakuza, and they tattoo themselves. then so that we have this sort of like the, like a regulation. then, and that's something that part of the reason is when I go back to Japan, I want to go to the public baths.
Mack Garrison (18:41)
Wow, okay, I didn't realize that.
Sure.
Yeah, of
course, right? You want to do all the things you love to do.
MOTOMICHI (19:05)
And also that's something that I think my parents kind of have had, will have hard time. So that's also out of respect too. So I just decided not to put any tattoo myself.
Mack Garrison (19:15)
You can explore it. can enjoy the creative and the medium just not going on yourself. That's great. Well, what are some of the hobbies that you do when you're when you're not doing projection mapping or you're not teaching? What do you like to do on your free time?
MOTOMICHI (19:19)
huh,
I guess, know, like, is, I don't have that clear boundary between hobby and work. So, yeah, it's kind of a, but, but I actually, well, I moved to, was, I was always living in New York, New York City, but I moved to Westchester, which is suburb of New York. The, one of the reasons that I actually like nature. So.
Mack Garrison (19:38)
That's a good sign, right?
Mmm.
MOTOMICHI (19:58)
Well, since we moved to here, in summer, I like to do kayaking. then I actually, personally, I just like water, just in general. So I like to be closer to water. So we do very close to the Hudson River. So I go for a walk there quite often. I don't.
Mack Garrison (20:03)
great.
Mm.
think there's something
about water that's kind of so relaxing, or nature for me as well too. You we're in such a digital world that when you can break away from it and be in nature and at peace, I love to be in the mountains and hiking as well too. It kind of is reset for me.
MOTOMICHI (20:19)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Exactly, yeah, yeah.
Mack Garrison (20:31)
You know, it's interesting as you were saying that it made me think of, isn't there a Japanese concept called Ikigage where there's like, overlap of what you love, what you're good at, what you need. feel like, I feel like you're, you're checking all those boxes right now.
MOTOMICHI (20:43)
No, I'm not sure.
But I think, but that's, yeah, but yeah, that post has been shared a lot in the social media as I see that. It's funny because when I was growing up, that's one of those things that, you know, the old people say, so we are like, oh, I don't want to hear it. But as me being, you know, more grown up and see this, oh, actually, that's kind of a nice concept.
Mack Garrison (20:53)
Yes.
sure.
That's kind of nice.
It's good. mean, I think you, you know, I'm curious what you would say to this. You know, I find that when you're in life and you're in different stages of your life, there's always advice that you would give to yourself at different ages, you know, having gone through all this creative yourself, explored so much, you know, what would you tell someone who's maybe just getting going on their creative journey? You know, if someone maybe just graduated high school,
or just got out of college and they're thinking about pursuing a creative career, what's some advice that you would give? What's some advice you give to your students?
MOTOMICHI (21:40)
This is also advice to myself and I'll give that advice to myself like five years ago, ten years ago, maybe last year too. But what I always say is just to make something, just keep making something. I think it's kind of, over the years I learned that being an artist is kind of like walking up the stairs and you cannot just jump and...
It's just basically the more you create, the farther you go. And then I think it's sometimes that without just making it so complicated, like I kind of feel like when I was younger, I was too impatient and I was just too focused on sometimes there's something too close to me and sometimes too far from me. But I wish that I had known more about like the, I know, I wish I created, focused on creating more.
than just worrying about how to get my stuff out there or how to improve. Sometimes you have to just keep making it. And then I think that's the...
Mack Garrison (22:45)
I love that. almost
kind of feels like, you know, this day and age with so much social media, there's almost pressure as creatives to make stuff to be seen as opposed to just making stuff because you enjoy it. And I think that's like really important. Just keep making stuff, right? Just keep it moving. Keep trying and exploring. I really do love that a lot. Well, I'm hoping that folks come and explore and take your workshop this summer. We're going to have a great time here in Raleigh.
MOTOMICHI (22:50)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
No, no, No, no.
Uh-huh.
Mack Garrison (23:09)
Maybe you
could give folks a little bit of a teaser. What are we going to get into for projection mapping at this workshop? What are we going to try to do in this workshop, you think?
MOTOMICHI (23:17)
So I just, first of all, I just want to kind of introduce what is projection mapping. And then more like I want to focus on what you can do with it. So the meaning that let's say you're already creator, you already have something that you want to show. And then I want to present like projection mapping as sort of like one of these kind of options you have to, how to show your work.
And then sort of, I'll go through the kind of basic of it, but you know, it's actually projection mapping is super easy. So they can definitely just like learn how to do it very quickly. But it's just, think most like I want to kind of encourage people to actually try it after workshop.
Mack Garrison (23:59)
It goes back to that advice you just said, you just gotta keep making and keep trying. Don't let the friction of something new stop you from creating. Well, I love it. Well, I've been sitting here chatting with MOTOMICHI. He's a Japanese born award winning projection artist and animator based in New York. And he's gonna be teaching a workshop this summer, June 11th through 13th here in Raleigh at the Dash Bash on projection mapping. So if you've ever been interested in learning about how to do it, how to get into it, this is the time and the place to do it. So grab your tickets and MOTOMICHI.
MOTOMICHI (24:02)
Yeah.
Mack Garrison (24:27)
can't wait to hang with you this summer and thanks so much for chatting with me today.
MOTOMICHI (24:31)
Thank you so much for having me.