Duet - Hardcover

Kaori Kasai, an artist-in-motion, graduated from art school in Tokyo, traveled to live and work in San Francisco, Hong Kong, and now lives in Vancouver. She creates her own world of eccentric creatures and personalities which bloom into the void: gigantic space dotted with tiny, intimate kinships and spirits bumping into one another, narrating signs of life across a dreamt universe. Her works have been exhibited at gallery 1 (Japan), Giant Robot, Little Otsu and SOMARTS (San Francisco), Compound Gallery (Portland) and the site of Helen Pitt Gallery (Vancouver).
 
In 2007, Kao was invited to accompany the screening of her new animated
short ""Duet"" at San Francisco's Asian American Film Festival and AAIFF (NY).
 
She graduated from art school in Tokyo specializing in fashion illustration and also trained at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (Canada), learning new media design, CD ROM & web development. Currently she is teaching New Media use Mac computer at Art School to children and creating children’s books.
 
For more information on Kaori Kasai, visit her website at
www.kaorikasai.com

Reviews of Sleepless Kao's previous titles:

""I've been a fan of Kao's art pieces since more than a decade ago...Monchan is a character who you can count on."" - Hirokazu Yasuhara, a Game Designer

This simple story about a little stuffed doll, Monchan, and his owner, Bluie, grows on the reader after a few readings and is enhanced by some additional research into the world of the author and illustrator, Sleepless Kao, whose real name is Kaori Kasai. Kaori is a Japanese visual artist whose world is populated with whimsical characters.
    The story explores the world of bags, in all shapes and sizes, as well as their contents. It is told with humour and is accompanied by detailed small drawings, using mixed media, and collage, including fabric, paintings and photos. The images of the bags and the items inside include a variety of objects, with their names clearly labelled and identified on each page, making it an ideal way for young readers to learn new words.” - CM Magazine
 
""Visual artist Kaori Kasai's world is populated with whimsical creatures, large-eyed children and androgynous characters. Her painting and drawings create short vignettes dealing with friendship, alienation, emotional boundaries and our interactions with our physical environment."" - The Bulletin: a journal of Japanese Canadian community, history & culture, March 2010