Artist:
Aiko Miyawaki
Title:
Utsurohi
Year:
1988
Adress:
Grande Arche, La Defense
A drawing on the firmament
You easily walk on by this artwork; by change you see the thin lines on the unobtrusive poles. When it happens, it’s a nice surprise to discovered this subtle artwork.
The thin wires are hard to see against the air and the against light. When you walk underneath the stripes, they move along each other and they seem to draw flowers. The perspective of the surrounding buildings is changing. The strings are connecting the sticks. The great masses on the background seem to make the lines even thinner.
Grande Arche by Aiko Miyawaki Utsurohi makes us fantasize; are this arches with flowers, a drawing on the firmament?
By Theo, www.artatsite.com
Een tekening op de hemel
Aan dit kunstwerk loop je makkelijk voorbij; het is toevallig als je de dunne lijnen ziet op de onopvallende palen. Het is een plezierige verrassing om dit subtiele kunstwerk te ontdekken.
De dunne draden zijn moeilijk te zien tegen de lucht en in het tegenlicht. Door onder de strepen door te lopen, bewegen ze langs elkaar en lijken zij bloemen te tekenen. Het perspectief van de omringende gebouwen verandert. De koorden blijken de stokken met elkaar te verbinden. Door de grote massa’s op de achtergrond lijken de lijnen nog fijner.
Grande Arche van Aiko Utsurohi Miyawaki doet ons fantaseren over wat de lijnen kunnen zijn; een boog met bloemen, een tekening op de hemel?
By Theo, www.artatsite.com
www.editus.co.jp:
An interview between Aiko Miyawaki (AM) and Yasuto Ota (YO): YO: In our exhibition title the concept of 'no beginning, no end' is expressed. Another keyword came to mind, the Japanese concept of utsurohi — 'swift change,' 'transience.'
AM: That ’s right, at that point my works were brass, not wire. The piece was a metal folding screen-like object. I displayed the work as one aspect of the exhibition’s central theme of ma, in Japanese, 'space/ time.' And while the shape of that work was completely different from those created in wire, the concept was the same. Yes, in terms of light, in terms of changing light....
YO:Where did that difference of shape emerge from, how did it emerge? Even if the concept of the work is the same, somehow there is something new or novel about wire.
AM—Well, most of all I wanted to exclude all sculptural weight, all that was physically weighty, and I set out in search of some material that was somehow honed or pared down. That was when I found piano wire. What Masakazu Horiuchi has described as 'leaping fleas' actually began from small piano wire models. You see it was a little model, so it went'hop! ' Then it took a really long time to find a similar medium that could be used on a large-scale. And then there is something that has since become a problem, the work I made for Hikota Park in Ichinomiya. In the end it was not something I made myself, it was made at a factory from pipes, not from piano wire. It is curved and shaped, but it ended up a bit different in shape from the shapes I make. It was so big it had to be put on a large truck and carried to its new site. When I make a work myself I carry lengths of wire and make the work in situ, but this was not the case here. It ended up as something that I am not really taken with, it is somehow ungainly, it has an ungainly shape. Recently children have damaged it with their mischief, and it has ended up in a completely hideous shape. I am negotiating with the owners and have asked them to destroy it, but they don’t seem to have done anything yet.
YO—So, the models are also important as realized sculptural works, aren’t they?
AM—Yes, the first model was made from just two pieces of wire. That was displayed at Tokyo Gallery. Horiuchi saw that exhibition, and Yusuke Nakahara also wrote about it. I really worked hard to find large wires, and it really took quite a bit of time. Mukai of Gallery Mukai introduced me to a collector, Mr. Murayama. He was the president of a company which makes piano wire. The company has a plant in Narashino, and I went to visit the factory with the young man who was my assistant at that time. That is when I found piano wire and was inspired by it, deciding right then and there to carry it home with me. We rolled it up and got on a crowded train with it. If I hadn’t found that piano wire, I would not have been able to create the sense of transience in outdoor sculpture, so I am extremely grateful to Mr. Murayama. I was so happy that I set about making sculptures right there on the spot, in the middle of the factory. But at first I was using steel wires. While steel is much more flexible than stainless steel, it rusts and so cannot be used for outdoor works.
YO—Long before you found those materials you seem to have had an image of 'drawing lines in the sky,' and continued to make drawings based on that image. I believe that you have said that this drawing lines in the sky, doing calligraphy in the sky idea is somehow linked to your dreams of freedom that you have had since childhood, but do you also think that it is linked to the concept of utsurohi, 'transience,' and can it somehow be considered Japanese in nature? I have also heard that this practice is because you have always liked ink paintings, such as those by the Song dynasty artist, Mu Xi.
AM—I don’t know if I was particularly conscious of the Asian-ness of my ideas, they just seemed to emerge naturally. Probably because I studied Japanese art history and I am always thinking about the relationship between Japan and the west.
YO—In any event, wire is somehow free, creative. Horiuchi has written, 'Ms. Miyawaki may have attained this idea of free, witty space from her friendship with Man Ray formed during her time in Paris. This free spirit who came through the Dada movement seemed to have fun as he made truly witty, unconventional works, such as hanging lots of hangers from the ceiling, at the same time that Henry Moore was making ponderously heavy sculpture.'
AM—Yes, you could say that. He was a bit playful. We can call him playful, at least, and observe that he strongly resisted anything heavy. That is why I like Man Ray. And of course, I don’t despise Moore. But from the time that I lived in Milan, I did not respect normal sculptors, like Marino Marini for example. That was probably because I had been baptized into the abstract, and I strongly resisted anything realistic. That was why I said things like aranumono, 'that which isn’t.
www.wikipedia.org:
Utsurohi est une oeuvre de Miyawaki Aiko. C'est l'une des oeuvres d'art de la Defense, en France
L'oeuvre est situee dans le quartier La Defense 7, a cote du CNIT. Cette installation consiste en 30 colonnes d'acier de 30 cm de diametre, recouvertes d'un verre cristallise et reliees entre elles par des tiges d'acier.
Translation
www.wikipedia.org:
Utsurohi is a work of Aiko Miyawaki. This is one of defense art in France France,
The work is in the La Defense 7, next to the CNIT. This installation consists of 30 steel column 30 cm in diameter, covered with a crystallized glass and interconnected by steel rods.
You easily walk on by this artwork; by change you see the thin lines on the unobtrusive poles. When it happens, it’s a nice surprise to discovered this subtle artwork.
The thin wires are hard to see against the air and the against light. When you walk underneath the stripes, they move along each other and they seem to draw flowers. The perspective of the surrounding buildings is changing. The strings are connecting the sticks. The great masses on the background seem to make the lines even thinner.
Grande Arche by Aiko Miyawaki Utsurohi makes us fantasize; are this arches with flowers, a drawing on the firmament?
By Theo, www.artatsite.com
Een tekening op de hemel
Aan dit kunstwerk loop je makkelijk voorbij; het is toevallig als je de dunne lijnen ziet op de onopvallende palen. Het is een plezierige verrassing om dit subtiele kunstwerk te ontdekken.
De dunne draden zijn moeilijk te zien tegen de lucht en in het tegenlicht. Door onder de strepen door te lopen, bewegen ze langs elkaar en lijken zij bloemen te tekenen. Het perspectief van de omringende gebouwen verandert. De koorden blijken de stokken met elkaar te verbinden. Door de grote massa’s op de achtergrond lijken de lijnen nog fijner.
Grande Arche van Aiko Utsurohi Miyawaki doet ons fantaseren over wat de lijnen kunnen zijn; een boog met bloemen, een tekening op de hemel?
By Theo, www.artatsite.com
www.editus.co.jp:
An interview between Aiko Miyawaki (AM) and Yasuto Ota (YO): YO: In our exhibition title the concept of 'no beginning, no end' is expressed. Another keyword came to mind, the Japanese concept of utsurohi — 'swift change,' 'transience.'
AM: That ’s right, at that point my works were brass, not wire. The piece was a metal folding screen-like object. I displayed the work as one aspect of the exhibition’s central theme of ma, in Japanese, 'space/ time.' And while the shape of that work was completely different from those created in wire, the concept was the same. Yes, in terms of light, in terms of changing light....
YO:Where did that difference of shape emerge from, how did it emerge? Even if the concept of the work is the same, somehow there is something new or novel about wire.
AM—Well, most of all I wanted to exclude all sculptural weight, all that was physically weighty, and I set out in search of some material that was somehow honed or pared down. That was when I found piano wire. What Masakazu Horiuchi has described as 'leaping fleas' actually began from small piano wire models. You see it was a little model, so it went'hop! ' Then it took a really long time to find a similar medium that could be used on a large-scale. And then there is something that has since become a problem, the work I made for Hikota Park in Ichinomiya. In the end it was not something I made myself, it was made at a factory from pipes, not from piano wire. It is curved and shaped, but it ended up a bit different in shape from the shapes I make. It was so big it had to be put on a large truck and carried to its new site. When I make a work myself I carry lengths of wire and make the work in situ, but this was not the case here. It ended up as something that I am not really taken with, it is somehow ungainly, it has an ungainly shape. Recently children have damaged it with their mischief, and it has ended up in a completely hideous shape. I am negotiating with the owners and have asked them to destroy it, but they don’t seem to have done anything yet.
YO—So, the models are also important as realized sculptural works, aren’t they?
AM—Yes, the first model was made from just two pieces of wire. That was displayed at Tokyo Gallery. Horiuchi saw that exhibition, and Yusuke Nakahara also wrote about it. I really worked hard to find large wires, and it really took quite a bit of time. Mukai of Gallery Mukai introduced me to a collector, Mr. Murayama. He was the president of a company which makes piano wire. The company has a plant in Narashino, and I went to visit the factory with the young man who was my assistant at that time. That is when I found piano wire and was inspired by it, deciding right then and there to carry it home with me. We rolled it up and got on a crowded train with it. If I hadn’t found that piano wire, I would not have been able to create the sense of transience in outdoor sculpture, so I am extremely grateful to Mr. Murayama. I was so happy that I set about making sculptures right there on the spot, in the middle of the factory. But at first I was using steel wires. While steel is much more flexible than stainless steel, it rusts and so cannot be used for outdoor works.
YO—Long before you found those materials you seem to have had an image of 'drawing lines in the sky,' and continued to make drawings based on that image. I believe that you have said that this drawing lines in the sky, doing calligraphy in the sky idea is somehow linked to your dreams of freedom that you have had since childhood, but do you also think that it is linked to the concept of utsurohi, 'transience,' and can it somehow be considered Japanese in nature? I have also heard that this practice is because you have always liked ink paintings, such as those by the Song dynasty artist, Mu Xi.
AM—I don’t know if I was particularly conscious of the Asian-ness of my ideas, they just seemed to emerge naturally. Probably because I studied Japanese art history and I am always thinking about the relationship between Japan and the west.
YO—In any event, wire is somehow free, creative. Horiuchi has written, 'Ms. Miyawaki may have attained this idea of free, witty space from her friendship with Man Ray formed during her time in Paris. This free spirit who came through the Dada movement seemed to have fun as he made truly witty, unconventional works, such as hanging lots of hangers from the ceiling, at the same time that Henry Moore was making ponderously heavy sculpture.'
AM—Yes, you could say that. He was a bit playful. We can call him playful, at least, and observe that he strongly resisted anything heavy. That is why I like Man Ray. And of course, I don’t despise Moore. But from the time that I lived in Milan, I did not respect normal sculptors, like Marino Marini for example. That was probably because I had been baptized into the abstract, and I strongly resisted anything realistic. That was why I said things like aranumono, 'that which isn’t.
www.wikipedia.org:
Utsurohi est une oeuvre de Miyawaki Aiko. C'est l'une des oeuvres d'art de la Defense, en France
L'oeuvre est situee dans le quartier La Defense 7, a cote du CNIT. Cette installation consiste en 30 colonnes d'acier de 30 cm de diametre, recouvertes d'un verre cristallise et reliees entre elles par des tiges d'acier.
Translation
www.wikipedia.org:
Utsurohi is a work of Aiko Miyawaki. This is one of defense art in France France,
The work is in the La Defense 7, next to the CNIT. This installation consists of 30 steel column 30 cm in diameter, covered with a crystallized glass and interconnected by steel rods.