村上隆さんのインスタグラム写真 - (村上隆Instagram)「We have welcomed Mr. Shohei Sasaki to Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. as our COO (Chief Operating Officer) on July 1, 2023. Immediately after the start of the pandemic in 2020, my company almost went bankrupt and I had to shut down various projects one after another. (I also closed down my large studio in New York; my assistant sent me a photo of the painting studio, which had been beautifully maintained for many years, turned into a vaccination center, which made me feel quite depressed). Since then, I have managed to survive with the help and guidance of many people, but it has been very difficult for me to manage an organization of 300 or so people while being an working artist myself. I have especially been anxious to find a professional management person to help me. Around September 2020, at an opening at my Kaikai Kiki Gallery, I was chatting with my friend and collector, Mr. Hirohisa Tamonoki @tamonoki (then CEO of a company listed on TSE Mothers), and asked him on a whim to help me manage my company. He kindly gave me some advice and recommended recruitment agencies without asking for any compensation. Then, in December of 2022, we had yet another big organizational crash, and Tamo-san introduced Mr. Shohei Sasaki to me. (Come to think of it, Shohei is the same as Shohei Otani's first name.) Mr. Sasaki had previously had a brilliant career as CFO of CrowdWorks, Inc. For the past six months, he has kindly dealt with me, not thr easiest person to please, as well as my chaotic company run by tricky people, and his gentle personality and sharpness in business operations made me hope against hope that someone like him would join our company. Thankfully, I was now given the opportunity to welcome him as our COO. Now that we are aiming to expand the potential field of art, having started the development of NFT art and portable gaming device in 2022, I feel so pleased and excited to think that Mr. Sasaki will be able to help us realize new, achievable projects that could have a great impact on society. I hope you’ll keep an eye on Kaikai Kiki as we keep refreshing ourselves.」7月6日 15時45分