The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 18, 2025
Blow
2009
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
Tabaimo is actually a nickname, a convergence of the characters for the artist's family name, Tabata, and the word imoto, which means younger sister.Description
Fusing traditional Japanese art forms with contemporary digital animation, Blow, by the pioneering Japanese artist Tabaimo, is a four-channel, immersive video installation that blurs lines between fantasy and reality. Although the artist's mother, Shion Tabata, is a well-known ceramist, Tabaimo’s decision to attend art school was not based on family tradition. She specialized in graphic design at Kyoto University of Art and Design, where she stumbled upon the expressive potential of animation. “I just applied all the techniques that interested me—3-D computer imaging, printmaking, drawing, photography,” she explains. The open-ended, fragmentary nature of her work is intentional, as the artist often draws from personal experiences and emotions; however, she says, “I leave fifty percent up to the viewer. The core of my work is something to be thought through, experienced.”- Tabaimo: Blow. Transformer Station, Cleveland, OH (July 14-December 16, 2023).
- {{cite web|title=Blow|url=false|author=Tabaimo|year=2009|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2012.51.b