NEO PIGGY BANK-Petit-

Koga's style is grounded in the classical forms of Japanese art. His signature piece {Hoyoroi Sakazuki}, for instance, takes as its motif the "kawari-kabuto" (distinctively individual helmets) of Warring States warlords, reborn as a contemporary form. The same is true here. Based on the typical maneki-neko form, this piece incorporates the expression of the "kaen-gata" flame-rimmed vessels of Jomon pottery — arguably the origin point of Japanese art history — installing into the work the history and aesthetic sensibility handed down through generations of ceramics. In this way, the role long carried by the "maneki-neko" is inherited, updating it into a new "maneki-neko" for the present day.
While the beckoning cat (maneki-neko) is a good-luck charm unique to Japan, the pig is a motif recognized universally around the world. That is precisely why Koga saw in the pig-shaped piggy bank a vehicle for conveying his concept more universally. Thus the Piggy Bank series was born.
The piggy bank is an extremely global object, rooted in people's daily lives across countries and cultures. Koga builds his own world of expression around "NEO WABI-SABI", a concept combining two opposing elements inherent in Japanese culture: the simplicity of stillness and the vitality of motion.