Description
Presented by: Eva Steynen Gallery
Listen to the audio description of this artwork:
Ken’ichiro Taniguchi’s art practice is characterized by ‘Hecomi’, a Japanese word used to describe a crack in a surface. Taniguchi is fascinated by these cracks in the urban landscape, caused by nature. This damage is often seen as negative, but the artist looks for ways to transform it into something light, mobile and positive.
In his ‘Hecomi studies’ Taniguchi uses hard, hand-carved PVC in a distinctive yellow color for his three-dimensional and foldable works, connecting the elements with materials such as brass, wood, steel and hinges. The resulting counterpart to this negative space looks surprisingly organic.
In his ‘hecomi-fittings’, little movies, Taniguchi places the shapes back into their original context.
Taniguchi has collected roughly 500 shapes from 46 countries.
The City study for Antwerp, as every city has its own history, it has its own shape. As people gather, start to live, and expand the scope of their activities, towns gradually change their appearance. In his ‘City studies’, the viewpoint is set far up high in the sky. When he looks at the city from a bird’s eye view, he sees the breadth of human activities, which can be said to have formed a ‘hecomi’ in the middle of nature.