Hiraki Sawa

Hiraki Sawa is a Japanese artist who lives and works in England. Sawa works predominantly in video, installation, and drawing. Sawa's work is often surreal, quiet, dreamlike, and universal. In Sawa's recent show, O, he focused on the concept of time as expressed through the interior and the exterior, lunar time as reflected on the moon and the earth, and questions of the present versus the past. I feel Sawa's work in this show was most compelling through his video pieces. Space was skewed with the video installations, as they were installed on angles and staggered throughout a large dimly lit room. The video was quiet, and shifted from majestic landscapes to abandoned, decaying homes and interiors. The power of the ocean was shown roaring in and out, followed by the calm, majestic presence of a canyon, and the peacefulness of a flock of geese flying in the sky. All the while, smaller videos were set throughout the gallery of white porcelean kitchenware and everyday objects continuously spinning and rocking. In this way, I felt the entire installation was extremely interesting in terms of the recent geological events in Japan: Sawa's work truly communicated the power of the natural setting, and the temporality of the man made.

April Moorhouse