wakiro sumi, "dance"


mar. 30 - may 18, 2002
taguchi fine art, ltd.






























Wakiro Sumi, who currently resides in the Chiba-prefecture, was born in the Gifu-prefecture in 1950. After having left the Faculty of Sculpture of Nagoya Art University, Sumi completed his course at the Fujimi-cho Atelier "B" Seminar in 1972. He has kept his concentration on sculpture, and has been introducing various sculptures to the world. He has always diversified his work, using both geometric and organic form, using various materials such as bronze to wax, and tackling the issues of "verticality" and "horizontality". By doing so, he has been producing his works following the rules of traditional sculpture honestly even amongst the sculptors of his era.
Since the 1990's, he has been producing vigorously, presenting his works in various exhibitions such as the "Among the Figures" (1992 The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo/ The National Museum of Art, Osaka), "Art Today 2000" (Sezon Museum of Contemporary Art, Karuizawa), and "Tsubaki-kai" ( 2001- Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo).



New Series "dance"

In this exhibition, we will be introducing various works that was born during the production of the "dance - 5", which is his work for this year's "The 5th Tsubaki-Kai" at Shiseido Gallery that began last year. In contrast to the work being presented in the "Tsubaki-Kai" being in bronze, at taguchi fine art, we will be presenting his drawings and plaster sculptures.



"VEIL"

The "VEIL" series has always been considered a series of his masterpieces, and he is also known for having said the phrase, "I want to sculpt as Jackson Pollock has painted"(1983). He has been using a very unique technique, which can even be named the Painting Sculpture, where he would construct a VEIL shaped piece by brushing melted wax, and then casting them to bronze for 20 years. "The Rain 2001" presented at the "Tsubaki-kai" last year was a compilation of these works.
After having completed his "VEIL" series by "The Rain 2001", Sumi, surprisingly took on a series of work such as clay carving/modeling and sculptures of plasters, which can be categorized as the origin of sculpting. A form, which was achieved by repeatedly piling and shaving clays and plasters with hand, is the "dance" series.



Self-Standing Sculpture

Wakiro's "VEIL" series, although they were sculptures, had its front and back, and had the characteristics of a painting by limiting the audience's viewpoint to the front of the sculpture. This shows Wakiro's strong interest in the surface/face of the sculpture, and in order to emphasize this, these works have always been presented on the wall like a painting, or was placed directly on the floor so that the audience will be conscious of its front-back. Even amongst the heavier pieces of his work, such as the "Thermal Echo" of 1987 and "Pavane for Gravity" of 1992, they have been presented either directly on the floor, or leaning on the wall. This was due to the fact that if the sculptures are placed in a space within a room, the floors and the walls inevitably presents a boundary to the space itself. Thus it was of utmost importance for Wakiro to be conscious of the relationship that arises between the sculpture and the floors and the walls.
Sculptures produced by Wakiro in the past have never left the wall nor the floor, and self standing sculptures that are equipped with a base such as this "dance" series can no doubt be said as exceptional. Separating the individual sculptures from the floors and the walls by placing a base in-between, thus partitioning them from everyday space that surrounds them in this "dance" series can be said as going backward compared to an attempt seen amongst the contemporary sculptures, which is to release the sculptures from individual space such as the ones created by the base. However, Wakiro is very conscious of the fact that sculptures have been broken down into installations or site-specific pieces by these movements. Wakiro may be attempting to recapture the true form, an essence of sculpture, by choosing the path to rebel against the current flow of time.



Possibility that Sculptures hold

The recent art world has been rather characterized by photography and the audio-visual media as can be seen in the Venice Viennale and the Yokohama Triennale of last year. On the other hand, however, paintings and sculptures have been reexamined, and a sign of their revival can be seen. We are confident that the series of work backed by Wakiro's definite skills present the possibility that sculptures hold in the 21st century.



At taguchi fine art, ltd., we will also be presenting his series of Tableau, created from repetitions of shaving layers of paint mixed with plaster and epoxy, together with the "dance" series.




checklist of the installation
1. "dance-2", 2001, plaster
2. "dance-4", 2001, plaster
3. "dance-6", 2001, plaster
4. "for dance", 2001, charcoal, pastel, cherry leaves, paper
5. "for dance-3", 2001, pencil, pastel, paper
6. "for dance-4", 2001, pencil, pastel, paper
7. "for dance-5", 2001, pencil, pastel, paper
8. "convex series-5", 2001, oil, enamel resin, canvas
9. "convex series-6", 2001, oil, enamel resin, canvas
10. "convex series-7", 2001, oil, enamel resin, canvas