Two Japanese artists delight in the magic of chance imperfections
We are so familiar with perfectly regular mass-produced glass and textiles in our daily lives that often we forget to appreciate the wonderful irregularities and subtleties of handmade glass arid fabric.
Glass artist Shuro Kasai and textile artist Hiroshi Saito have come to Fremantle from Japan to set up an exhibition of their work at Gallery East, and remind us of what We are missing.
Glass is a superftuid, that is it keeps moving - be it ever so slightly I and is created almost magically by subjecting sand to intense heat. Shuro Kasai studied applied physics before deciding to become an artist. He is self-taught and uses recycled glass in modern forms. The wonderfully off-centre, abstract works in this exhibition were inspired by a visit to The Pinnacles in 1997 and look somewhat like sacred vessels from ancient times. Suspended above these frosty glass forms hang the unique textiles of Hiroshi Saito - hand-painted and hand-dyed cotton fashioned into shirts, kimonos, scarves and jackets. Before becoming an artist Hiroshi trained in Kyoto as a dyer of silk used for making traditional kimonos, but became bored dyeing up to 10 bolts of fabric all exactly the Same colour.
"At 35 I decided I didn't want to dye kimono for he rest of my life," he says. "There I was, producing something that my own wife didn't own or even want! I also realised that I'd never really liked silk, either the feel or the formality of it.”
He began experimenting with handmade cottons. Because the Japanese variety is so expensive he tuned to cotton from- developing countries such as Thailand, Peru, Mali, India and China. They were not only more affordable, they also possessed a warm, human quality Hiroshi considered was lacking in the Japanese cloth. Hiroshi employs his extensive knowledge of traditional dyeing techniques in experimental ways, and has achieved fame for his skill in the production of dyed cotton land for his work with modem dance and music companies in Japan.
He also works on large installations, including a huge one in the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York, and is renowned for an activity he calls ”Nozome" in which he supervises groups of up to 100 people dyeing 20m lengths of cloth outdoors. Hiroshi says he loves to travel and to leave his mark. “.Most people take photos when they trave1," he says. “But when I find a place I really like, I'm going to commemorate it by dyeing cloth there." Happily, Perth is one such place.
Hiroshi will be conducting Nozome on Sunday
May 9, between loam and noon at Bathers Beach
in Fremantle. Ring Joanna Robertson on 9483 2696
for details and bookings.
May 11-30.
Gallery East, 94 Stirling Hwy,
North Fremantle,. 9336 6231.
Open Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2-5pm.
[(EVI FERRIER) Perth Weekly May 5-11,1999]