Jesse Kanda (born June 23, 1987) is an artist, animator and musician based in London. He was born in Japan and raised in Canada. Besides his solo career as an artist and musician, he is also well known for his collaborations with musicians including
Arca,
FKA Twigs and
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...
as well as providing visuals for fashion label
Hood By Air
Hood By Air is a high fashion brand based in New York City first launched in 2006 and active to the present day, with the exception of a hiatus between early 2017 – 2019. The brand was co-founded by designers, Shayne Oliver and Raul Lopez. The ...
.
Background
Jesse Kanda partly grew up in Japan.
Since age 13, Kanda has shared his work online with the advent of artistic social networks deviantArt.com and mp3.com in the early 2000s. Today he continues to do so, now expanding into exhibitions and live shows. He is known for his collaborations with musician
Arca who he met "on a DeviantArt forum when Kanda was 15 and Arca was 13."
Jesse Kanda was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Recording Package
The Grammy Award for Best Recording Package is one of a series of Grammy Awards presented for the visual look of an album. It is presented to the art director of the winning album, not to the performer(s), unless the performer is also the art dir ...
during the 57th edition of the event (2015) for
FKA Twigs's debut studio album ''
LP1''.
Work
Common themes in Kanda's work have been growth, decay, death, freedom, fantasy, empathy, dream, innocence, subconscious, sexuality, sensuality, pain, suffering, euphoria, the body, movement, and magic.
Kanda often employs a unique balance of aesthetic beauty and the grotesque. Juxtaposing life and death; or love and fear. Although he is mostly known for his sculptural mixed media images, animations and music, he has also ventured into traditional filmmaking, sculpture, fashion, painting and photography.
His figures often exist in a dream-like spatial environment, often disfigured but with a sense of empathy and strength. His visual works are sometimes inspired by internal body parts, and Kanda admits "The inside of our body is much more beautiful than the skin that coats it, yet we’re afraid of it." Kanda transforms painful organ-looking heuristics into esthetic visual pieces.
[Jessica Canjemanaden]
Jesse Kanda on the beauty of organs, loneliness, and new album Labyrinth
''Dazeddigital.com'', 29 November 2019
He has often used the music video as his artistic medium. Either creating the music himself, or collaborating with close friends.
In 2020 he provided visuals for beauty company
Byredo
Byredo is a Swedish company producing fragrances, leather goods, and accessories made in Sweden. Byredo is a portmanteau of "By Redolence". It was founded in Stockholm in 2006 by Ben Gorham.
It deals with leather products, perfumes, and the fi ...
.
Music video credits
* FKA Twigs – "How's That" (2013)
* FKA Twigs – "Water Me" (2013)
* Arca – "Thievery" (2014)
* Arca – "Now You Know" (2014)
* Arca – "Xen" (2014)
* Arca – "Sad Bitch" (2015)
* Wench – "Galvanize" (2015)
* Björk – "
Mouth Mantra
''Vulnicura'' is the eighth studio album by Icelandic musician and singer Björk. It was produced by Björk, Arca and The Haxan Cloak, and released on 20 January 2015 by One Little Indian Records. Björk said the album expresses her feelings befo ...
" (2015)
* Arca – "Front Load" (2016)
* doon kanda – "Axolotl" (2017)
* doon kanda – "Womb" (2017)
* Arca – "Desafío" (2017)
* Arca – "Anoche" (2017)
* Arca – "Reverie" (2017)
* Björk – "
Arisen My Senses
"Arisen My Senses" is the third single from Icelandic singer Björk's ninth studio album, ''Utopia'', released digitally on 21 March 2018. A "slug genitalia-coloured" vinyl remix EP was released months later on 25 May. The song was written and pro ...
" (2017)
Album art credits
* Arca – ''
&&&&&'' (2013)
* FKA Twigs – ''
LP1'' (2014)
* Arca – ''
Xen'' (2014)
* Arca – ''
Sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...
'' (2015)
* Arca – ''
Mutant
In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...
'' (2015)
* Arca – ''
Entrañas
''Entrañas'' () is the second mixtape by Venezuelan electronic music producer Arca. It was released for free download on 4 July 2016 through Arca's SoundCloud page and Mediafire. It features contributions from Total Freedom, Massacooraman and M ...
'' (2016)
* doon kanda – ''Heart'' (2017)
* Arca – ''
Arca'' (2017)
* Björk – ''
Utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island soc ...
'' (2017)
* doon kanda – ''Luna'' (2018)
Exhibitions & performances
* TRAUMA – MoMA PS1 (2013)
* Various live shows with Arca (2013–2017)
* Solo exhibition and musical performance London Corsica Studios (2017)
* Solo exhibition and musical performance Tokyo Liquid Room (2017)
* Solo exhibition and musical performance Kyoto Metro (2017)
Discography
Albums
* ''Labryinth'' (2019)
EPs
* ''Heart'' (2017)
* ''Luna'' (2018)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanda, Jesse
1987 births
People from Kanagawa Prefecture
Digital artists
Japanese animators
Canadian animators
Living people
Japanese expatriates in England