Tsuyoshi Hisakado is a Japanese installation artist who specializes in incorporating sounds into his work. Coming from a background in sculpture—he entered the sculpture department at the Kyoto City University Fine Arts in 2001—he soon proceeded to be active in an artist group called SHINCHIKA who held exhibitions that incorporated multi-media and sound into all-encompassing installations. Hisakado remained the sound specialist for the group even after graduating with an M.F.A. in sculpture in 2007, and the group continued to exhibit until 2010. It was in 2011 that Hisakado decided to become a solo artist.
Read MoreHisakado’s installations capture elusive elements that are not usually considered sculpture. He opens the door to even the most fleeting things to be viewed as sculpture, like ever-changing shadows on the gallery walls, a fluttering tablecloth—or the very wind that causes it to flutter—and especially the sounds that emanate from his installations. “I work with the concept that any phenomenon can be transformed into a sculpture. Phenomenon disappear and don’t remain, but I think these conversely are extremely sculptural,” he says. These so-called “disappearing sculptures” are a reminder that no object will last forever, and despite the natural human instinct to leave behind things for posterity, not even bronze sculptures are immune to the ravages of time.
Quantize, his 2014 solo exhibition at Ota Fine Arts is a beautifully simple realization of his artistic ideals. One gallery room is sparsely populated with seemingly everyday objects, each with a twist that incorporates light and sound in playful yet thought-provoking ways. A large blue plastic trash can in the centre of the gallery, a couple of tables draped in transparent sheer fabric, a circular pinch hanger (for hanging laundry). On closer inspection, the trash can has been appropriated into an oversized lampshade, the fabric is billowing due to fans placed under the tables, and the circular part of the hanger is actually a fluorescent light. Each of them loudly switch on and off in the gallery and are programed by him, however how they all come together in the installation as a whole is completely random, so that no two experiences are ever exactly the same. Besides the sound of the switches turning on and off, context-less sounds from the bustle of modern life are played, each demanding to be objects of our attention in their own right.
'Quantize', like the rest of Hisakado’s oeuvre is an embodiment of a line from Hojoki, a 12th Century piece of Buddhist literature by Kamo no Chomei. It reads “The flowing river never stops and yet the water never stays the same.” Even if things appear the same on the surface, life goes on and history will never repeat itself. Using ordinary objects and simple technologies, Hisokada makes us realise the transience of all things.
Another of Tsuyoshi Hisakado’s recent works, after that, 2013, relays a similar message of the impossibility of creating the exact same experience, but this time primarily through visual cues. after that consists of a disco ball in its own gallery room. Each individual mirror on the ball is a working clock set to a different time, and even the hands are made from mirrors. Reflecting light and casting shadows into the pitch-black gallery room in a never-repeated pattern, it is a stunningly poignant reflection of his “disappearing sculpture”. Yet, after that is precisely executed, nearly mechanical, evoking vague recollections of deep space and science fiction. In fact, Hisakado took inspiration for this work from the iconic recurring scene of the popular Japanese cartoon Doraemon where the characters ride a time machine while surrounded by wriggling clock motifs.
In the last several years, Tsuyoshi Hisakado has exhibited around Japan including a solo show at the Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo. Among his group shows was "Exchange -Planting the seed" at the Aomori Contemporary Art Centre in 2013 where was an artist in residence.
Text courtesy Ota Fine Arts.
