Tsuchiya Kimio

Illumination from the Extremes of Existence
Tsuchiya Kimio began showing his work at the end of
the 1970s, and since the mid-1980s he has stood at the forefro ntof the Japanese art world. Works from around 1984, which
1984tru i'n~ffiii'lu11uLiluliuUlfl belong to his early period , used oak and willow. He showed an~6mnnilau:'lu~~u NM1u'!i11urn~ml'i1;u1umi'lfl.11.
1l1~01J interest in natural materials and created primary shapes such as
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triangles and ovals through the accumulat ion of materials. The
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underlying characteristics of his later work are already manifested
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In the catalogue for an exhibition in Antwerp in 1989,
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11uni11n11ii~61L~1iio1iiu1:nom61, form , and accumulation . The materials cons ist
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of th e substance or object used, including the time or history~61 iiio:~:iim7lJL70\J\J11\J
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possessed by the substance as it develop s as well as the{6 ui11,n~Lrn:~flniTu
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meaning signified by its encounter and fusion with the artist.
simple, forms repres ent a un ive rsal language.
Although
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Regardless of differences in languages, nations, and epochs,~11~ L{1:nou;\J~1nmm1Jrl1\J
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simp le forms stimulate the establishment of commu nication that'l'iii1on\JJ1i!tJ'l~ii~1iiil'i~ 'l~l1i 6il'i~~,J11no'l\Jiu~616:'lin mlJL\Jland~ :l1~nl1iinoLnfU1itranscends such differences. "Accumu lation" reflects the view that
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all things are a totalit y made up of a collection of parts. No!l'll'lii~aoom1Jti1 existences or forms of life on earth are exempt from this rule .
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Tsuchiya 's major recent works are primal shapes
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consisting of an accumula tion of driftwood found on the1988 tr\J i!aiJtJti1
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"PREMONITIO
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shores of the Thames River in London and Tokyo Bay, or smallm;l~nitJL~61~61
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branches found in forests. An exam ple of the firs t type is~6Nft11\J;;6 "Premonition " (1988), an assemblage of driftwood from Tokyo Bay
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l feeling of motion suggesting
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"MONOLOQUE" 111'\\Jil~cresting waves. An examp le of the second type is 'Monologue 'uon~1ndu1ii11uanl1a10{\J~'l!iio:l'i1~1nil\J
LU1JLLN\Jna1Jui,'1ti11,J,J;:nounrni19i'tJ'liil1a1u.i\J(1989)atthe Openluchtmuseum voor Beeldhou wk unst Middelhe imn'i11 5.5 LlJm
"ETERNITY" limnil\J;1ii3u1111Lil\Jiufl~mna1J.i10 li'16tJrn'!itJ11\Ji6
in Antwerp, in which Tsuchiya attached disk-like objects made of
sma ll branch es to several tree trunks . Severa l of his works were0
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created mainly with rocks. A representati ve example is 'Eternity,'l~~mJ1u17-llL'l1-ll1~-lLLf\::'U1u11U1uv~,al.J~1[/bJn,::mi.nr-ll1l.J11lJ1ff17-l
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a 5.5-meter-wide semicircle created in a forest in France in 1990.
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Since then , howe ver, Tsuchi ya has dismantled an.11. 1993\J6n~1ndL~1Mlila61nfo abandon ed house and reasse mbled all of the pillars and boards
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from it to create something new . As may be seen from recen t
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nnf1-l1uuu16i.n,11t1aLni\Jworks such as "Black Dictionary" (1992)and "Black History" (1993),
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he has also tried creating installations using the remains of
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entire houses that he has red uced to a small pil e of ashes .
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The repeated burning of a house produces a fine white
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trace what soever of th e structure formerly inh abited by human
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Li'lu6tjnftlOlJ7Li'I\Ja1~n~1o'l,JLi'I\JJU~611fl~beings. When the ashes are spread in the shape of a polygo n,~1ii~m\J:mw;1
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and non- existence. In this way, the ashes reduced comp letely
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to a "zero horizon" send us a message on a more fundamental
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regarding the significance of the tim e (history /memo ry)
level i1nwhen the object lived and functioned. In that sense, ashes are a
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symbo l that evokes the indeterm inate border between existence(life) and non-existence (dea th). A projec tor attached onto or theceiling shines onto th e ashes the years in w hich th e house" lived." This could be said to suggest even more to us than the
wo rd s in the diari es and books that are sometim es buried
among the ashes.
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11) Black Historyash ( worth an entire dilapidated house), diary, slide projector
7 x 480 x 600 cm, 1992
(Photo: Fukuda Yoshihisa)
2) Showaash (morth an entire dilapidated house ) m steel , glass , slide projector
420 x 500 x 300 cm., 1993, at P3 art and environment3) Detail of Showa

------ -1) Vector
Wooden stick, iron
1993, at the Hiroshima City Museum of contemporary Art(Photo : ask)
2) The Only Fast Ones are Us
iron , paraffinwax , plant, forklift
220 x 140 x 670 cm, 1993, at P3 art and environment

CHIEO SENZAKI

Penetrable Realms'II !l'UL'II A'll !Mflll'Hll'l51\JSince making his artistic debut at the end of the 1970s,
Senzaki Chieo has devoted himself to th e creation of installation s.
His principal style cons ists of the prolific us e of small branch es,
which he arranges inside and outside of buildings. He has createdlarge -scale works at JAPON ART VIVAN T (Marseille, 1987), at P.S.
1 (New York, 1989), and , recently, at the Hiroshima City Museum ofContemporary Art (1993), where his installation covered theentire oval facade of the mu seum.
Senzaki has also emplo yed glass as a principal material.
Exampl es include an earl y work at Gallery 21 in 1984 in w hichglass was arranged in a trigo nal pyram id, wi th a video inside it,
and a project at Kaneko Art GII in 1992, in wh ich he covered a
block-shaped wooden fram e w ith glas s. In recent years , he hassometimes also used paraffin. The paraffin cove rs photo graph s oflandscape s and human activities. At gallery SHOKO N AGA I in
1992, he covered plywo od w ith para ffin and ma de a large cub eshaped box, in which he pla ced a gr een light. Thes e are his
major works to date.
I have dubbed th ese works as a w hole "a pen etrable
barrier." In the catalogue for the solo exhibition of Senzaki's work at
gallery SHOKO NAGAI in 1992, I wrote that Senzaki 's works "arealwa ys wa vering the bord er of contrasting conditions andrelationships. He has explored many different kinds of relationships:
inside / outside , reflection / transmittance , organic /inorganic , and closed / open . In doing so he has always been
concerned with interaction rather than conflict. The fact that he has
settled on paraffin as a material is related to this concern. It has anintermediat e qualit y. It cannot make a visually absolute partitionand do es not signify a minimalistic object. This qualit y ser ves tocarry out his concept in its present form. With this in mind , the outercoating of paraffin can be described as a barrier which can becrossed and penetrated by interacting elements like the membraneof a cell." (1) The assemblages of small branches that form abarrier with countless hole s, glass th at reflects the outer world
yet is also transparent , and the semi-tr ansparent paraffin seek
to stand apart from , ra ther than confronting , absolute barri ers(modernism) .
However, Sen zaki 's new works will probabl y try to escapeeven further from the above sort of scheme. A box containing
plants rests on the front of a forklift, gener ating various possible
messages . A simple readin g suggests that th e forklift repre sents
the functions of lif:ing and transporting essential to an industrialize societ y. The plants in the box d enote the management of
natur e. They are struggling to maintain their balance in isolated
positions. But the managed plants on the forklift (industrial society's "palm of the hand") suggest that the effort is futile . Senzaki's
new work could be characteri zed as bearing an extremely pessimistic message generated by the next stage in the problems confr onting society and the environment. This message represents a departure from the happy int eraction manif ested by the installation at
Mito Park in 1990, in which Senzaki placed tw o power shovels
opposite each other and filled the space betw een them with countless br anches.

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I CHIEO SENZAK I . EX HI BITI ON CATA LOQUE. TRANS. STANLEY !\ . A\: DERSON ( TO KYO :GA LLERY SHOKO NAGA I

1992). m't11

Sansern Milindasuta(Photo: Nitikorn Kraivixien)

Paintings That Liveworks reflect the future of
Sansern Milindasuta'sm,iiaiJ"~,M~maif\! jjii,rn~~ a"viau'l11L11uii1ilaud11Jmfo~all11ulum,1~~
contemporary Thai art. In other words, the development and"ilailu~d;'uu"'l11L11ui'i111111~ilall
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deconstruction of form in his work suggests the direction in which~all11uri1ifoi11'lll~Thai art is heading.
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The degree to which Sansern's images are generated
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A quiet, private imagination leisurel y~ 87UL\JUL~a,rna~iu internally is unusual.
~ ~a1i\aiJUiJNa~m'.i~ua"maL1am1fiui1ii~u1nmTur1au;uaci1,L1UIJ
proliferates in time and space exactly as though weaving its own~01J10u'\llsli1ua1u'lu~a,
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story. In Sansern's hands, the form of paintings as still-lifes is
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surrounded by a gentle net--ecology-- that is ever changing. It is also
a metaphor for "paintings that generate paintings."~-1rio1'1Lfl~Ltl'-JiYl'lfi'i'ilJfln~'Hti-1
At first Sansern produced rectangular works. However,uon~1nilu,L~UUfi1WM\JU
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he also painted on untraditional materials and backgrounds such as
1a~ua"itu10,fo~i1~'\iJ~,n~tuL-liunm;uumwuui1umuLrn"a\'11mwuua1~m~1u
slate and wire netting. These were free-form paintings cum objets.
111
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they were expressed in end lessly recurring chains.
Moreover,m1Lwniu1111'lu11u~o1a11Laif\!
It would be impossible to single them out individually to
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determine where they begin. As images , however, th e artist
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has fashioned them into "a sampling of naturalist history" consistNM1uila
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ing of small fascinating objects. "Ivory Whisper" (1992) is typical ofmm1"IVORY WHISPER" u1.t'u'\llil~.rl. 1992 !TuLiluiu~o,1~~~jjm11J1;uocl11'bii~
objets that take the form of a relief.
amaif\!
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But we must also turn our eyes to another type of
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1992 , ,~ "GARDINER" 'lui'I1993,~ "THE DOOR" 111-nu'luil
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series of works th at announce the dissolution of form. 'Gard iner 'J,a11J,~il'lsliua~1'l11L11uii1m1a"a1u~o1
1993 L'liunu
LLa",~"VELVET DROP" 111.t'u'lui'I(1993) is a group of paintings that stand on the ground (floor) .
iu111111u,~ "GAR DINER" Li'luntj1J11uii~rn111Jzj,J1uuituuarnu,~tu~vi1-nuillin1Jt11"
Other similar series include one in which the artist has spread earth
vi1i11~mnui111uiimnm,ri1a11on.t'um~,n~uon the floor, creating the image of paintings growing out of
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Na11u~~ the soil. Indeed, the paintings seem to descend to earth and begin'l,JjjiJ11no'l11L11u"ili'i~otjm,!Tuua"n11'l-iiLi1uzj1LUUL11~ulJ'lu11u,~ilLrn
to live there. There are no more rectangular outlines. The series"T HE DOOR" Lilu,1u~li1uon'l11Liluii1n11L~u'lum1vi111u~o1a11Laif\!~'bJ1i~otjnuiiJ
titled 'The Door' (1992) marks steps taken by Sansern toward
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as "painting growing in the earth," "frescoes (forms) that slip down
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onto the floor ," and "contours that breathe like skin" take root in
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Sansern's mind?
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possess flesh and blood -- and sometimes even a will to live.
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They frankly try to express the artist's inner being. They may even
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Sansern does not care for discord between the objects thatm~n11L111~anmu'lu~o1~a11u~~naaiuiiJ1111LLa~,'l11L11ufi,m11Jrl1Lh'lumw11lJ
Ll1~Nailare d epicted . He wrestles with the in visible repr esen tation
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beneath the surface. This also represents a battle with his hidden
self. In that sense, the series of efforts to dissolve form in his
paintings represents a chance to const an tly achieve a wholenessapart from an attachment to th e parts. Stepping into theinner wo rld of the painting also constitu tes an experimentthat eagerly looks forward to th e res torative power of theimagination.

1) Gardineracrylic , wax . clay, wood
1993, at P3 art and environment2) Gardiner

1993, at National Gallery(Photo : Thaweepan Phoonwathu)
3) Gardiner

1993, at National Gallery( Photo : Thaweepan Phoonwathu)

1) To You, Our Worshipped Leadersiron chair , toy, fiber glass, rose , steel
each = 50 x 50 x 180 cm, ( 22 pieces), 1993, at P3 art and environment2) Detail of To You, Our Worshipped Leaders
3) On the Road of Industry
tire, steel
200x 1200 cm, 1993, at P3 art and environment

Supachai Satsara

An Eye that Indicts Materialism"Gark shado w s" aptl y describes the throng of humanfigures painted by Supachai Satsara on automobile license plates.
The reason is that the artist's state of mind and opposition to
distortions in Thai society, rather than the neutral shadows ofspecific objects, are proj ected ont o th e wo rks. Thailand is now
rac .ing headlong along the path of economic growth; it
pos sesses the means of produ ction backing that growth . People
are attract ed by it; in addition to achie ving material affluen cethat did not exist in Thailand 's pre-modern , pre -industrial society ,the y ha ve been forced as well to face various problems cause dby economic growth.
This trajector y is manifested in the plans for Supachai 's
works. "On the Road of Industry " (1993) criticizes the gro w th ofmaterialism. "On the Road to Bangkok " (1993) displa ys opposition
to the abso rption of labor from the count ryside in to the city
(Bangkok), an unprecedent ed ph enomenon brought about by
the industrialization of Thai society.
Neve rtheless , it is not Sup achai's aim to turn art int o apolitical tool , although he is strongly aware as an artist of therela tionship with society and the environment. He pers istent ly
tries to treat the relationship as an artistic (critical) issue . "On the
Road of Industry" depicts faces made of a strange material--countless tire strips. At the same time , needless to say , the faces
are syno nymous with the wheel tracks formed by industri alization. But Supachai 's work, transcending univocal interpretations
like this, destroys the function of the tires, a sym bol of the drive forindustrialization, by shredding them. In doing so, he has createdan image of the emptiness of industrial socie ty.
"On the Road to Bangkok " is an installation that depicts
crowds painted on a series of license plates. The dark shadowsformed by the figures are imp ersonal, almost like human ghosts.
Visually, the license plat es seem mor e personal and real than thedark ghostlike human shadows; the y are also more orderly .
The installation simultaneousl y seems to convey an image ofhuman beings governed or controlled by numbers . In a recent ,related work, human shapes have been cut out of the paintings,
creating hollow figures.
Whereas the growth of industrial society and the humanemptiness caused by it are inherent themes in these works, "To You,
Our Worshipped Leaders " (1993) turns to a message that concerns
politicians. The heads of twenty politicians are arranged upside
down on two rows of small stands. Tools (playthings) of civilization , such as automobiles and airp lanes, are placed on the necks .
A desir e for greater effort on behalf of the happiness and inter estsof individual human beings is infused in th ese figures , w ho
ha ve served as a force promoting rapid moderni zation andindu striali za tion. As an expr essio n of human beings · relationshipwith society and the environment, it is nothing more than a simple
orthodox id ea. By comparison, this aspect has been eliminatedin Japan, w hich is following the path of post-industrialism andthe hollowing out of industries. But it may be inevitable for Thaiar tists wit h a strong social consciousness to become involved in
the most crit ical social problems today. Signs that should keep
Sup achai from simply ending up at this level as an artist are
manifested in works that revea l the vision of an artist w ho canri ve t his a ttention on th e empty forms behind material
phenomena.

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