Japanese Sound & Video Art 2011 with Yoshio Machida and his latest exhibition 'Maru' took place at Graffit Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria (28.09 - 06.10). The project was organized and generously funded by the Association 'Our World' (Varna, Bulgaria) and the Japan Foundation. The exhibition was part of the Japan Foundation Exhibitions Abroad Support Program.
Concept of Maru/Circle
‘Maru’, the first solo exhibition of Yoshio Machida in Bulgaria is a natural progression of the artist’s experiments and works with light. As a versatile artist, Yoshio Machida successfully expresses himself through different mediums, namely visual art, video art and music. In his latest exhibition ‘Maru’ (2011), he has managed to merge various mediums and utilize different materials united by the main theme ‘Maru’/’Circle’, which revolves around the concept of circular movement.
The circular movement is an ancient concept, which Aristotle (De Caelo I) and Galileo Galilei used, striving to investigate the ‘circular natural motion’ and movements of celestial and terrestrial bodies. As the circular movement was fascinating humans since Antiquity, this concept is of great importance when it comes to analyzing the drawing development in children. In the book Creative and Mental Growth (1987), Victor Lowenfeld and Lambert Brittain point out that after the initial random scribbling, children start to discover art and around the age of 3, they start to draw symbols that stand for the real thing. The circular form becomes universal for everything. It is important to notice that the circular movement is first in children drawings as it most natural anatomically.
Using the circular movement analogy, Yoshio Machida combines both the early child’s development drawing abilities with the related philosophical concept and creates a unique artistic interpretation that combines simplicity and complexity in its essence.
Materials and areas in ‘Maru’
Embroidery works
‘Maru’ showcases 10 embroidery works, in which the circular movement is present as a dense pattern on each canvas. The multi-colorful thread on each canvas is following the minimalist style of expression. Furthermore, the artist has chosen different colors for the individual canvases as to create a warm and instinctive feel of the works. The embroidery section is a two-dimensional model (2D) of expression.
Photogram works
Yoshio Machida has worked with photograms since the 90s and has used it as a main medium. For ‘Maru’, Machida includes 8 photogram works that capture the circular movement on a light pink photopaper. As in the embroidery section is a two-dimensional model (2D) of expression.
Rope and wire installation
The wire (20 items) and rope (15 items) installations presented in ‘Maru’ follow the exhibition’s main theme of circular movement. The three-dimensional (3D) shapes of these installations differ from the embroidery and photogram workd not only in medium, but in materials. Nevertheless, the installation are a natural extension of the main theme and still use the multi-colour approach as in the 2D sections.
Video & Sound installation
The multimedia section in ‘Maru’ is the main part of the exhibition and embodies Yoshio Machida’s artistic approach for synchronizing various mediums of expression. The binocular, 2-channel video projections capture circular movements. Each video is accompanied with its own sound played on a separate track. The mixture of the two channels, combined with the simultaneous moving images of circular movement from the two video projections creates a meditative space of reflection.
Iva Paneva - Iva Paneva is a freelance writer, actress and documentary filmmaker. Her writing career includes a range of conference and academic ...
