JAKUPSIL

Anikoon's robot series originated from a chance encounter with an abandoned toy robot at a flea market in New York. Once cherished but now discarded, this robot became a poignant symbol of the impermanence inherent  in both consumer goods and human emotions. This discovery transformed both the artist's identity and artistic language. Departing from the sophisticated mechanical imagery prevalent in science fiction, his robots instead embody human imperfection and vulnerability. Their expressions—playful, vacant, disconcerted, and melancholic—reflect various facets of contemporary human existence, inviting viewers to confront marginalized narratives and forgotten emotional landscapes.

The robots within his canvases carry a spectrum of emotions, precisely capturing the psychology of contemporary individuals while functioning as the masks we all wear. Through these mechanical masks, Anikoon approaches both self-identity and relationships with others as an epiphany of the face, visualizing the gap between external appearance and internal voice. As seen in the Rusty Robot, Adult Block, and Heart to Heart series, his exploration of narrative through robotic faces and gestures reveals a core element that runs throughout his work: an interplay between cartoon-like imagination and longing for innocence, coupled with the recognition that such purity remains elusive. Yet, his intention to expand our perception becomes a joyful journey of finding the child behind our masks, while the process of confronting our inner selves and others enhances our capacity for sensing and imagining others' experiences. Anikoon states that in his artistic practice, evoking emotions of beauty itself fulfills his aspiration, and his work becomes the repeated endeavor of sharing these feelings with others. As Levinas suggested, such face-to-face encounters with the Other represent moments of true realization, where accepting others as they are into one's domain ultimately leads to self-realization.

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