While on the one hand exploring such themes as spiritual possession and union in traditional Japanese performing arts, Asano Kenichi employs pop-culture elements to sublimate wooden sculpture into contemporary art. Asano's sensibility is rooted in memories of how he felt during visits to temples and shrines as a young boy. In those solemn spaces of prayer and awe, he was drawn to the tension and mystery inherent in the idea of something unseen, hidden under the surface of things.

Asano made his debut with Nokaku (Noh Fighter) capturing the human body's suppleness and parts through a droll nod to martial arts. He then worked repairing Buddhist sculptures, through which he mastered traditional techniques of wood carving, lacquering, and gluing.

Asano's native region has a tradition of karakuri mechanized doll masters dating back to the Edo period. Perhaps under that influence, Asano's works evolved into moving wooden sculptures involving spherical joints and marionette-like cords.

This bold blending of modern technology into wooden sculpture continued with Denpashiki a motorized doll that serves tea and Bushin ichigo ki (Warrior God No. 1) whose built-in camera gives viewers a sense of visual unity with the figure. Then came a project at Kyoto's Shimogamo Shrine concerning objects inhabited by divine spirits, an ideal opportunity for Asano to present his own explorations of that theme.

Asano applies free thinking and originality for a contemporary take on Japanese arts.

日本の伝統芸能に「憑依」「一体化」をテーマにしながら、木彫にポップカルチャー的要素を融合させ、現代アートヘと昇華させる淺野健一。小さいころ、寺や神社に連れて行かれた時に感じた感覚が彼の原風景となっている。祈りや畏れの心が向けられた厳かな空間に、何かが潜んでいそうな緊張感や神秘性に魅かれていった。

《能格》でデビュー、趣味で打ち込んだ格闘技によって、身体のしなりや部位の位置を確かめながら表現した。その後、仏像修復に携わる中で木彫や漆、膠を使った古典技法を獲得した。

生まれ育った尾張地区は、江戸時代からカラクリ人形師を輩出し、職人の技が継承されてきたところである。

その影響からか、球体関節を使い、ひもで操るカラクリの技を学び、彼の作品は動く木彫ヘと進化していく。その後もモーターでカラクリを動かす茶運び人形の「電波式」から、小型カメラを内蔵し視覚的にー体化する感覚が味わえる「武神一号機」ヘと、果敢に現代のテクノロジーを木彫に取り入れていく。下賀茂神社で開催された依代(神霊が依りつく対象物）プロジェクトは、自身のテーマを発表する格好の機会であった。

淺野は柔軟な発想と独創性で日本の伝統芸能を現代的センスで蘇らせる。