Hajime Mizutani
Behavior as Nature
03 - 27 Oct 2019
HAJIME MIZUTANI
Behavior as Nature
3 – 27 October 2019
In his exhibition Behavior as Nature, Hajime Mizutani presents two spatial installations that invite the audience to contempletation and to a more conscious experience of time and space.
The wall-sized installation Nostalgia (2019) in the entrance space of the Künstlerhaus gallery consists of crumpled paper painted with charcoal. Mizutani thus takes up a series of similar in situ works begun several years ago. The structure of the paper and the charcoal screed make the installation appear different in changing daylight, so that the viewer may associate it with a sea or mountain landscape or the infinity of universe.
Between Visible and Invisible (2019) seems to consist, at first glance, of an unprocessed framed sheet of paper. Only the walk through the space allows the viewer to fully explore the work: Wafer-thin pencil strokes cover the surface and yet fail to make the white hue of the paper invisible. It takes some attention and time to grasp Between Visible and Invisible visually – and beyond. Thus, the technique used by the artist suggests a protracted working process and a special sensitivity for the medium paper, a traditional working material in Japan. Mitzutani’s decision to leave most of the wall surfaces within his exhibition white was a conscious one: the artist intended to provoke a conscious perception of the white cube. From Mizutani’s point of view, the white cube has its own aesthetic, which varies depending on the architecture, place and time and thus becomes a witness to a certain social situation.
Behavior as Nature
3 – 27 October 2019
In his exhibition Behavior as Nature, Hajime Mizutani presents two spatial installations that invite the audience to contempletation and to a more conscious experience of time and space.
The wall-sized installation Nostalgia (2019) in the entrance space of the Künstlerhaus gallery consists of crumpled paper painted with charcoal. Mizutani thus takes up a series of similar in situ works begun several years ago. The structure of the paper and the charcoal screed make the installation appear different in changing daylight, so that the viewer may associate it with a sea or mountain landscape or the infinity of universe.
Between Visible and Invisible (2019) seems to consist, at first glance, of an unprocessed framed sheet of paper. Only the walk through the space allows the viewer to fully explore the work: Wafer-thin pencil strokes cover the surface and yet fail to make the white hue of the paper invisible. It takes some attention and time to grasp Between Visible and Invisible visually – and beyond. Thus, the technique used by the artist suggests a protracted working process and a special sensitivity for the medium paper, a traditional working material in Japan. Mitzutani’s decision to leave most of the wall surfaces within his exhibition white was a conscious one: the artist intended to provoke a conscious perception of the white cube. From Mizutani’s point of view, the white cube has its own aesthetic, which varies depending on the architecture, place and time and thus becomes a witness to a certain social situation.