Chikai Ohazama, who works under the name Chikai, is a Japanese-American artist and filmmaker whose work explores the human condition through what he calls “cinematic AI”, layered narratives built with generative AI models and workflows. Blending surreal juxtapositions with expansive notions of time, he probes the boundary between technology and emotion.
Before turning to art, Chikai co-created Google Earth and earned a PhD in Biomedical Engineering.His short film Saving Nine, made entirely with generative AI video, follows a mysterious investigator questioning what is real and what is simulation, and it opened the inaugural Napa Valley Asian American Film Festival.,Anomalia (2025) pairs 15 large-scale metal prints, first shown at the Hamptons Fine Art Fair, with a digital collection of 500 AI-generated glitch videos, each paired with a hand-selected still frame viewable in an interactive HTML viewer that toggles between motion and stillness.,The work was a finalist for the 2025 Still Image Lumen Prize.
In the generative project Circle of Frens, interleaving concentric circles carry the color gradients of eight other artists, including Sam Spratt and Joey L, across a collection of 500 pieces.Chikai also founded MONOLITH Gallery, a digital space for his personal art collection and curatorial projects.His work has been exhibited in Norway, London, Rome, Dubai, Miami, and New York, and was named to nftnow's NFT100 list in 2023.,
