Artist Zombie Zoo Keeper collaborated with “imabari towel digital art gallery”

Zombie Zoo Keeper

Born in Tokyo in 2012. At the end of August 2021, he launched the NFT art project "Zombie Zoo" with his mother, Emi Kusano, as a summer vacation independent study. He began drawing pixel art of zombified animals using a tablet app. About a week after the start, it caught the attention of art collectors around the world and became a hot topic. In 2023, he exhibited at the "MOT Annual 2023 Synergies or, between creation and generation" held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. He attracted attention as the youngest artist in history.

Emi Kusano

Born in Tokyo in 1990. She began her work as a member of the three-person electro unit "Satellite Young" during her student days. She has exhibited her works at the Museum-Fit and the Victoria and Albert Museum. She mainly works on AI art and has exhibited her works around the world, including at the Auction House Christie's. Her book "Neo Parenting" (CCC Media House) is about the future of child-rearing and technology.

Have you heard of the 12-year-old artist “Zombie Zoo Keeper?”

He is famous for creating works using NFTs (non-fungible tokens), which allow you to attach unique digital certificates to images, videos, audio, etc.

Zombie Zoo Keeper and his artworks.

There is a fun atmosphere somehow.

Zombie Zoo Keeper's name became widely known in 2021, when NFT most noted and people were spending more time at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. He happened to read an article about NFT and became interested in them, and with the recommendation of his mother, Emi Kusano, he started drawing pixelated images of zombies from his favorite game, Minecraft, on his iPad. When he released the works as NFT art, they were purchased by well-known collector Trevor McFederies and popular DJ Steve Aoki!

These are the three pieces purchased by DJ Steve Aoki.

His fame grew worldwide, and in the following year of 2022, he even collaborated with Piko Taro, who became a hot topic with his song "Pen Pineapple Apple Pen (PPAP)" to release the "Zombie Zoo Song.
Zombie Zoo Keeper is now collaborating with the imabari towel digital art gallery, which opened in May 2024! With the release of an original towel coming soon, we met with Zombie Zoo Keeper and his mother, Emi Kusano, to talk to him. What kind of child is this precocious genius artist?

A look at the music video for the song collaborated with Piko Taro.

His mother, artist Emi Kusano (right) and Zombie Zoo Keeper (left).

The two we met are a lively boy and his gentle mother. Zombie Zoo Keeper had just entered junior high school when we interviewed him. Was he regularly drawing pictures prior to creating NFT art?

Emi Kusano and her works.

These works evoke a sense of nostalgia.

"Even before I entered elementary school, I used to draw pictures on the iPad and paper with my grandmother. I liked watching anime like Pokemon and thinking up and drawing my own original characters based on them."

You can see a glimpse of his creative side from an early age. And that was the influence of his grandmother, an illustrator Kaoru Kusano. I see, he was influenced not only by his mother but by his grandmother.

He seems to be from a family of artists, and I’m curious to know how he is at school, so I asked him. What do you do during your lunch break?

"I often play outside with my friends, playing dodgeball and tag. If I get inspiration while playing like that, I draw pictures.

Oh! That's a surprisingly normal way for a 12-year-old ...but it's novel that he gets creative inspiration while playing outside. What kind of position do you have in your elementary school class?

"I liven things up, but I also provides topics to talk about. I bring out the best in my friends, who are the center of attention in the class, by starting conversations and responding to what they say."

Emi Kusano says that it is her role as a parent to show a wider world.
She seems to be raising her child to be free.

He is like a producer! But he also likes to talk, and acts as a MC in class. Next, he talked about his favorite subjects.

"Japanese, social studies, and math. Social studies is about history, and math is fun to think logically. I am also good at giving presentations in science."

For science presentations, he spends about three hours each time creating a document about a global issue, and then presents it in front of the teacher and the class. It seems like he has both artistic sensibilities and logical thinking.

And recently, he has finally finished studying for his entrance exams, and is able to do what he wants every day, enjoying time with his friends.

"Today I finished the first volume of Harry Potter on audiobook in one day. I also play Pokemon cards while listening to audiobooks."

Reading a book on audiobook and playing games at the same time?! Do you remember the story?

"Yes, I remember it well. Sometimes I play games talking with my friends on the phone."

That's amazing multitasking...!

He also watches a huge amount of anime, and apparently watches all the Jump series such as Naruto and Yu Yu Hakusho at double speed on Netflix in less than a month each. He seems like a digital native!

And when he went to France recently, he visited the Palace of Versailles and became interested in the story of Louis XIV eating a lot. It's a modern way to be interested in everything from Pokemon to Naruto and Yu Yu Hakusho, and even stories about Louis XIV. It's related to his favorite subjects, but it seems like he has a wide range of interests.

A black and white collaboration towel.

When you turn it over, the colors are beautifully inverted.

A blue and yellow design on a black background.
The reverse side offers a different look.

Now, we were shown the towels that were made in collaboration with the imabari towel digital art gallery. They are very cute towels, with a white design on a black background and a blue and yellow design on a black background.
By the way, the Kusano family has been using Imabari towels for many years. Even if Zombie Zoo Keeper was not aware of it, they have been close to him since he was born.

Here we can see his deep connection with Imabari towel.
When you look closely at this towel, it looks like a pattern, but when you look at it from a distance, ogre characters appear. This collaboration project started last fall, and the pixelated images you drew on the iPad around October took shape like this. What do you think when you see the actual products?

"I drew them with dots, but it's amazing how the characters are expressed by the different colors of the fabric. It's interesting that the characters are also made up on the reverse side. It's exactly craftmanship. It's also fun to see the difference in texture between the rough and smooth parts with less thread." He seems to be satisfied with the finished things. By the way, why did you draw ogres this time?

Zombie Zoo Keeper feeling the difference in the texture of the towel.

"At first, I knew Imabari City as a mandarin orange producing area, so I was thinking of drawing mandarin oranges, but I thought that was too simple. Then I remembered the Nio statues I saw on Nikko Toshogu Shrine in Tochigi Prefecture, and it hit me. They are interesting with muscles, and since this is a project to be promoted to the world, I drew something Japanese-like without regard to Ehime."

Amazing! I didn't realize that you were drawing ogres with a global branding in mind. And the story doesn't stop. Zombie Zoo Keeper says that it was difficult to use only two colors on the black toweling due to production constraints.

An exhibition commemorating the collaboration between Imabari Towel
and Zombie Zoo Keeper was held in Paris, France in March of this year.
The towels are lined up on the left wall.

"But that restriction gave me an idea. I decided to design both in colors that were opposites of each other. (Pointing at the black and white towel) This one uses white and black to make a chubby, round ogre. (Pointing at the blue and yellow towel) This one uses blue and yellow to make a skinny ogre. I also created a contrast between dark and light when looking at the whole picture by making the nose, mouth, and horns the same shape so that I made the differences stand out more."

It feels like I'm being presented by a talented producer! He even considered the balance of contrasting colors and shapes for the motifs. Moreover, this explanation seems to have been put into words for the first time, and not only his mother, Emi Kusano, but also the production team of "imabari towel digital art gallery" heard it for the first time, and they all looked surprised...

He shows interest in the virtual gallery of "imabari towel digital art gallery".

And when we told him that this towel will be exhibited in the virtual gallery of "imabari towel digital art gallery", he immediately replied,
"That sounds interesting! If it's digital, I'd like to make them smile and add motion from the normal face."

It seems that the range of creation will further expand.
The release of the collaboration towels and the exhibition at the "imabari towel digital art gallery" are scheduled for the end of April.
Please come and see for yourself the works that this young talent created with his sensibility and logic.
Even so, I can't believe he was thinking that far and creating works at age 12! We are very excited to see his future.

Finally, we have a photo of the two of them.
The interesting story kept the interview scene captivated.