Born in Japan, Kariya moved to the United States in 1977, where he has been based in New York ever since.

  Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Kariya became renowned for his prolific practice both in Japan and overseas, and has participated in numerous exhibitions, including an invitation to the Sound Show; a special project at MOMA PS1 alongside Vito Acconci, Nancy Holt, and Denise Oppenheim, where Kariya made a water pool sound instrument, and entered the pool to become the instrument himself as part of the work: the sound. Other exhibitions include his solo show “Sutra” at the * Note 1ICA, Philadelphia in 1990, and invitation in the four-artist show “Open System” at Art Tower Mito, Japan, together with CAI Guo Qiang.

  In 2017, he had a solo exhibition entitled “It’s all about the one piece, and millions of others” where he showed the series “Seed Sutra” – fundamental to his daily work, in Tokyo after a long silence. A prototype of this installation has also been shown at the opening exhibtion of Mizuma & Kips and at The Armory Show in 2019.

  Kariya uses artistic expression as a tool to deconstruct and examine his perception of the material world (third density), and transforms this process and record of thought into his artwork. Through the creation of his works, he devises a method to verify the artificial theories of truth created or fabricated by humanity, using the traces left behind in each work's creation.

  Theory of truth might be a theory of painting. Painting is an object of surface. It is an illusion of surface. In other words, painting is about the superficial surface, and truth refers to the superficial truth what is man made.

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  Therefore, Kariya attempts to verify this illusion of surface by tracing its threads. He gathers various and sundry pieces of information—human errors, learning processes, and changing faces. These are the surfaces—the faces—of the concepts of perception imprinted with self-existence. It is a pure and innocent expression that accepts all information as truth, continuously searches for the origin of truth, and continues to practice. The face tells a historical background. The face speaks for the voice of the heart.

  The exhibition structurally expresses the "background" setting hidden behind the surface, behind that expression. The prototype of the work is *Note 2 "The Seed Sutra." Related works, using life-size bean seeds, were presented at the Armory Show in New York last year.

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  The exhibition is based on enlarged versions of images recorded in photographs and videos of the artwork creation process. (The enlarged works are simultaneously in progress and under construction.)

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  Surface, that is, the seed, has a front and a back. It is the existence of a three-dimensional object.

  On the back of this, *Note 3, are pasted facial photographs cut out from news articles, which constitute the "Face Sutra," representing the passage of time. A library-like setting with a multitude of these faces lined up across the wall unfolds in the video. The "Transparent Face Sutra Box" (tentative name) is given an identification number in the order of creation and is recorded and preserved.

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  The exhibition is a spatial setting that also incorporates the audience. It is possible to walk on the image on the floor. The intention is for the audience to participate in the illusion of the surface, to enter into the known illusion of the artwork, and to experience and verify it. An a priori, archetypal verification of the known image is attempted.

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  The image is enlarged from the process photo/video documentation of the work for each production, time after time. Seeds have a front and reverse.

  On the other side, * Note 3 the face was cut out from the news article and pasted, it called “Face Sutra" by Kariya.

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  Wall installation, the image was taken from the video clips from those random layered of transparent specimen boxes. 

   The exhibition creates a space where the audience may walk on entered the work. Experience the illusion to step on the image or just participate in the work. Then, experiment and verify a new illusion.

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    * Note 1
    The ICA exhibition was divided into three parts, one of which was demolishing the temporary wall of the previous exhibition Ilya Kabakov and displaying it on the archeological grid. Behind the wall, temporary walls such as Andy Wahol and Christ were exposed. The waste materials were sorted according to the memories of the parties involved in the on-site work, and were arranged behind the “Memory Wall" installed at this exhibition. The audience examines the surface with the archeological markings.

   * Note 2
    This is an ongoing production work that describes the three letters "the now is" on the front and back of a handful of bean seeds a day. Some have only one handful per day, and some have only one palm per day. As of December 31, 2019, the number reached to 1068850 tablets. Yet for him is a single sentence of "the now is".

     * Note 3

    This exhibition, seems the library of faces with the audience to participate as entering the exhibit field is. People may confused of their own identity.
Through the works, Kariya examines the illusions contained in a face individually, or just an object, maybe subject of its potential, and/or anonymity.
The meaning and impression of many faces scattered throughout in the gallery is left to the attributes and histories of the audience and presents a variety of experiences, the joy of puzzle with illusion.​
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