Born in 1978 in Belgium, Phil Akashi is a Hong Kong-based artist. He revisits the use of Asian seals with sensitivity, mixes them with other media, and PHIL forges a new artistic language that links East and West and places the past in the service of the present. He was raised in Brussels, the multicultural AKASHI capital of Europe, and rapidly developed a curiosity and a passion for art. As a nomadic artist, he has also lived in Los Angeles, Madrid, Wellington (New Zealand) and Shanghai, where he enjoyed stimulating artistic environments and learned to think outside the box. He won the following awards in 2013: Major International Public Art Projects, Palo Alto Public Art Commission (California, USA); Must-See New Public Art Across the Globe, Blouin Artinfo (Seoul, Korea); and Top 10 Reader Submissions of 2013, Designboom Art (Milan, Italy).

Inspiration:

Being passionate about Asian seals, I use them as a central element of my creations to question the world and see it diferently. By revisiting their use and technique: mixing them with other media, I sustain a very old tradition with emotion and innovation. Tis is also an exciting way to escape my comfort zone by using ASIAN SEALS ON CANVAS the power of language in conjunction with a trans-cultural and conceptual approach. Te American Dream, the Chinese Dream … but where is the European Dream? Hey, Europeans, it is time to wake up, to see the glass half full of diversities and opportunities, and to build a culture of optimism together.