The key in the hand, 2015, Japan Pavilion, 56th Venice Art Biennale, Italy, Photography: Sunhi Mang
Through her intricate needlework installations, Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota simultaneously addresses themes of memory and nostalgia, light and color, beauty and loss, elements that intertwine to give the installation both the location and the space within which it hangs. The object has a powerful, dark, dreamlike quality.
Shiota was born in Osaka in 1972 and currently lives in Berlin, where she studied under the renowned performance artist Marina Abramovix in the 1990s. Shiota studied painting at the beginning, but soon became known for her large-scale needlework installations. Walking into Shiotas installations is like walking into another world. It is rumored that her works have ghostly ghosts. beauty of.
The key in the hand, 2015, Japan Pavilion, 56th Venice Art Biennale, Italy, Photography: Sunhi Mang
Boats, keys, chairs and pianos: in Shiotas work, everyday household objects are suspended from thousands of fragile ropes, which together form a fragile installation that creates a new kind of space Poetry makes ordinary objects exude novel meanings. recently, shiota spoke to designboom about her artistic journey, creating a new space using tiny threads.
The key in the hand, 2015, Japan Pavilion, 56th Venice Art Biennale, Italy, Photography: Sunhi Mang
designboom: You started your artistic career as a painter. What made you transition to the 3D field? Is there anything in needlework that particularly attracts you?
Chiharu Shiota: I studied painting at an art college in Japan. By the second year of my studies, I didn’t want to paint anymore because I felt that painting was just adding color to the canvas, and nothing else. Any other meaning. My life couldn't be just about painting, which left me without a sense of belonging, so I decided to give up painting, a field that I was lost in. At that time, I didn't know how to create, whether to move forward or backward. At that time, I also got the opportunity to study in Australia, but I still went to the Academy of Fine Arts there to study.
I was struggling so much at the time that I often fantasized about being in a two-dimensional painting world. I began to think about potential ways to enter the painting, and struggled to find a breath while being tightly surrounded by paint. Space. This experience made me question myself. It was my own limitations that determined that I could not get out. The limitations of the two-dimensional canvas made me start to explore needlework works. The process of knitting gives me the opportunity to expand and it feels like I am painting in space.
Target, 2017, Galerie Templon, Paris, France, Photography: B.heut-tuti
designboom: Your works are not generally complex. Can you tell us what kind of external and psychological challenges you face in the process of creating an installation?
Chiharu Shiota: First of all, I will go to the installation location where I am going to create. The moment my body enters the creative space, it has actually transcended another dimension, and I already have the outline of the work in my mind. Then I would make simple sketches, and except for the triangular pattern (which determines the tone of the installation), the interweaving of stitches would be very random. For me, the weaving process is a thinking process. Even if I complete the creation within the booking deadline, or the work fits the characteristics of the gallery, I still feel as if it is not good enough. I never feel satisfied with my work. Totally satisfied.
Photography: Philippe Bréard
designboom: Your work is often associated with a sense of identity and belonging. How does being a Japanese artist influence your creations?
Chiharu Shiota: I don’t want to be labeled as a Japanese artist. I am Chiharu Shiota, an artist. My educational background may affect me. The other thing that can affect me is my mentality, such as Buddhist thought, but nothing else can affect me.
Gathering Strength, 2017, Le Havre, France, photo: Philippe Bre?ard
designboom: Everyday objects often appear in your works, and they also become symbols of memory and nostalgia: such as keys, seats, stones, shoes. What is it about these things that attracts you?
Chiharu Shiota: Old things have a history, and what really attracts me about them is that they wereThey all belong to someone, and that person has deep feelings for them. I can see traces of a persons life behind that thing, and I can see existence in non-existence.
Infinite Line, 2017, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, USA, image courtesy of Savannah College of Art and Design
designboom: Black and red are the main colors in your work. Can you talk about why? What does it mean to you?
Chiharu Shiota: The black lines are intertwined to form a plane. On this basis, they gradually extend to the external space, creating infinite space. A yarn installation or work of art is truly complete when I can no longer trace it with my naked eye, the accumulation of layers upon layers forming a deep black installation. I believe that you will only see the truth in a work when you can no longer look at it with the naked eye. Also I used red thread because it symbolizes the color of blood.
It is an invisible thread inside the rope. It is inside and you cannot see it, but it is this thin red thread that hangs everything and connects everything together. The color red symbolizes the blood of the human body, and these intertwining lines mimic the complex system of the human brain, where neurons are trying to answer questions about belonging.
Letter of thanks, 2017, Kunsthalle Rostock, Germany, photo: Fotoagentur Nordlicht
designboom: Which artists do you admire now, and how do they influence your creations?
Chiharu Shiota: Whenever I visit a museum or otherI get inspiration from the gallery exhibitions of other artists and start thinking about my own creations. These artists are the source of my inspiration.
Letter of thanks, 2017, Kunsthalle Rostock, Germany, photo: Fotoagentur Nordlicht
designboom: What is something you haven’t done as an artist yet that you would really like to do, a dream project?
Chiharu Shiota: There are many things I want to try, but my real dream is to make a piece of work that I am completely satisfied with, and then I can rest and proudly say, "I did it." ."
Where are we going?, 2017, Le Bon Marché, Paris, France, Photography: Gabriel De La Chapelle
designboom: Which piece is your favorite?
Chiharu Shiota: No, I don’t have a favorite, that’s why I can’t stop creating, I’m never completely satisfied.
Where are we going?, 2017, Le Bon Marché, Paris, France, Photography: Gabriel De La Chapelle
designboom: What is your personal motto?
Chiharu Shiota: I personally don’t have a fixed motto. I follow my own feelings more. I feel like there is always one piece missing, so I keep exploring for this reason, but I can’t seem to tell exactly what I’m looking for, and I can’t explain the emptiness in my heart.
The Flow of Life, 2017, Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, China, image provided by the artist
Silent, 2008, Centrepasquart Art Museum, Biel / Bienne, Switzerland, Photography: Sunhi Mang
Photography: Sunhi Mang
