Masakatsu Sashie’s Smoke presents a meticulously constructed vision of an urban world transformed into a monumental floating sphere. Suspended above a desolate landscape, the orb is assembled from the familiar fragments of contemporary city life—shopfronts, ventilation systems, shutters, illuminated signs and densely layered façades. Sashie’s precise, almost hyperrealistic technique gives each individual element a tangible presence, even as they are brought together in an impossible configuration.

The spherical structure dominates the composition, its extraordinary density contrasting with the pale, atmospheric space surrounding it. Traces of smoke drift from its surface, softening the architectural details and reinforcing the sense of a world that remains active despite the apparent devastation below. Small areas of illuminated signage and warm interior light punctuate the otherwise muted palette, suggesting remnants of human activity embedded within this self-contained urban microcosm.

Beneath the floating city, piles of discarded technological and industrial debris stretch towards a distant skyline, creating a striking dialogue between accumulation and abandonment. The sphere appears simultaneously constructed from and separated from this landscape, as though the material remains of civilisation have been gathered together and reorganised into a new, autonomous world.

Through this tension between meticulous realism and surreal imagery, Smoke reflects Sashie’s fascination with the structures and objects that define contemporary urban existence. Familiar fragments become strange when removed from their ordinary context, leaving the viewer confronted with a world that feels both recognisable and post-apocalyptic—a suspended vision shaped by consumption, memory and the material traces of human life.