人気ブログランキング | 話題のタグを見る

(c) 2016 Minori Yamazaki -Japanese Artist-


by ardest

[Spinning a Cocoon into a Ray of Light]

[Spinning a Cocoon into a Ray of Light]_a0031847_11046.jpg[Spinning a Cocoon into a Ray of Light]
-Minori Yamazaki's World-

Machiko Kusahara
Media Art Curator
Associate Professor of Media Art, Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics 1995

Without light, we could not see. Only an energy of light can generate and support the entire ecosystem of earth. The story of Genesis in which light gave birth to life is a myth which is based on a truth.

The expression of light has been the recurring theme in various works of arts, from expressions of hope and porousness in religious paintings to subjective expressions in Impressionist art.

Stained glass, which enabled light to express magnificent images, was later transformed into slides projected by a lamp for people's amusement. It was, so to speak, a small freedom as a result of shutting out the sun light.

With the transformation from slides to movies and from an optical to electronic media, we acquired the ability to control light. Expression by light has been a dream pursued by western artists. This was indicated in the fact that the advent of computer graphics was regarded as "a medium human beings finally achieved to paint with light" in Europe and North America.

It is interesting that computer graphics, one of the most advanced of visual technologies, has clearly reminded us that we have relied on light since ancient times, a fact that has been over]coked in civilized society where darkness has been wiped out. Computer graphics simulates the actual reflection and diffusion of light. The monitor screen would remain dark if we overlooked the care of a light source in the virtual world.

In the 1960's and 70's, the beginning of the era of electronic art, many works of expression through light appeared. They took various forms. Neon tubes, irradiation of a beam of light, sculptures of moving light in combination with kinetic reform, reactive image processing and projection using analog synthesizers, ambient spaces where monitors are installed, were more or less typical configuration of the works of that time.

Materials like laser beams and Plexiglas (transparent resin which has a tendency of having beams of light centered on its cross section) made it possible to mold the image of light more sharply than ever, while optical fiber enabled the ability to guide light in any direction.

The delicate cybernetic work by Wen In Tsar and the space created by Bruce Nauman give us an impression of light which has final]y become a scud]plural media. However, the use of loudly-colored lights to create excitement in live concerts and discos, and the il]urination of the sky with neon lights and laser beams in place of the stars became common during the rapid economic growth of the 1980s.

Commercialism surpassed art by sheer quantity. I can still remember the reaction of a visiting American light sculpture artist back then, who was at loss for words at his first sight of the night life and lights of Shinjuku's Kabuki-cho.

In the path of contemporary art, if the artist wanted his lighting work to convey its pure art message, completely shut out from the masses, inevitably he would need to trim his work by minimal and geometrical expression or to critical]y cast back the overflow of light. Nam June Pike, Jenny Holzer, and Tatsuo Miyajima capture the overflow of image (or electric signs) and cast the image back to us by altering its message completely.

Takuro Osaka visualize and contemplates our surroundings by conveying invisib]e cosmic rays falling continuously from the universe into frail]e blinking light. In these works the light conveys message, and we cannot help confronting it.

Minori Yamazaki's works are different from these. He does not trim light but absorbs it and creates his own animistic universe which is based on organic rather than inorganic system. His works as a whole, rather than individually, expand the ambient and three-dimensional space using various media including computer graphics.The space is filled with light which changes its density peacefully and quietly.

Recalling the biological"ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" theory, the memories of our ancestors' will to be merged with the memories of human fetuses and from the inside of a womb, we experience being wrapped in the softness of light and dark.

The fact that Yamazaki's art continues to be engaged in and concerned with design must be behind such feature of his space. If a nature of design is to produce a soothing and recreating moment, and a meaning of art is to remind us of things we have lost, then we need an artist like Minori Yamazaki to recall the meanings of the lost darkness and the starlit sky.

After the crazy era of wasted energy resources, the calm spaces created by artists such as James Trarel and Bill Viola are beginning to attract wider attention.

We are looking for a mysterious familiarity in the junction of light and darkness. From this junction, our lost memories will be recovered and quietly expanded.


■SITE 1 ヤマザキミノリのインターネット美術館-1 空間デザイン、環境造形、展示設計"Christmas Decoration, Display Design, Public Art, Installation, Art works"
■SITE 2 Minori Yamazaki's Inteernet Museum-2 ライトアート、立方体万華鏡、オブジェ、インスタレーション"cumos, Light art, CG, Installation"
by ardest | 2004-07-10 10:15 | comments