Artiste : Ishii Setsuko

Biographie de l'artiste :

Biography of Recent Work (2009)
Setsuko Ishii

Upon returning from Paris in the mid 1970s at the completion of my study of Fine Arts at L’École National Superieur Des Beaux-Arts, I began to feel that something was missing from brush and paint. I returned to the Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT), where I had previously studied Physics, in order to expand my technical knowledge in the field of holography. I found this relatively unknown art medium to be fascinating as I contemplated the possibilities of melding the arts with science. I was granted a fellowship in 1981 from the Japanese Government to train at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT where I was able to begin to bridge the gap through my work.

My work:
Since completing my studies, I have focused on three main themes when creating my art: light and space, land and nature, and the human form and body. Throughout the years, I have had the opportunity to exhibit many of my works of art.
“Murmur of Aqueus” produced in 1995 (semi-permanently installed at the Centennial Hall of the Tokyo Institute of Technology), is one of my first large scale works which explores different ways of using light and colour. This is an example of brushwork in a hologram. Drops fall into water and the resulting ripples animate the three dimentional strokes displayed in an approximately two-meter tall, three-meter wide hologram installation.
In the spring and summer of 2000, I participated in an interesting art project called “Art Communication – ikiiki wakuwaku” at Care House Tsunan in Niigata, Japan. This project was to set modern art works at a nursing home. It was an experimental attempt to see how people change when they are surrounded by art works in their daily life. I installed “Sunlight work” in a flower garden, and it produced a “Rainbow” on the vaulted ceiling in the cafeteria. When the sunlight directly hits the hologram grating from the window, a rainbow appears on the ceiling and the position of the rainbow changes over time as the sunlight filters in at different angles through the day.
Following these opportunities, I was challenged to create “Environmental Art.” In June and August, 2000, I had a solo show titled “World of Holography by Setsuko Ishii – play tunes of light in Azumino”. 25 works were displayed in two rooms (15m x 20m floor space each) in Ikeda-town Museum in Nagano. Holography works with the theme of nature “Water, Light and Wind” were displayed in the museum surrounded by the beautiful nature of Azumino and introduced as a new wave of modern art. “Apollonian Gift” was installed outdoor in the museum park. About sixty holographic gratings were placed on plants and grass. This outdoor work split the sunlight and reflected the change of time, weather and seasons.
In July 2000, I produced multi-channel multi-colour holograms at Holographics North in the United States of America. I used the masters I had created at the Holocenter through the Artists in Residency program in New York in 2000. At Holographics North, I completed “Self portrait-Body with Fabric 1”, “Self portrait-Body with Fabric 2”.
In 2002, I had a solo show for these and other works I completed at Holographics North in Ginza Surugadain Gallery in Tokyo, Japan.
In 2003, I was part of a 6-member group Exhibition titled “Women captured light” in the Pola Museum Annex in Tokyo, Japan featuring women artists creating art focused on the theme of “light”. Concurrently, I had an exhibition at Kawagoe-city Art Museum in Kanagawa titled “Balls for Meditation.” International atists were challenged to display works which expressed their visions of the creative world. The theme was everything “Ball-shape” with visible and/or touchable art works. Two of my works, “Floating1 and 2” (created using brushwork and computer graphics) were displayed as “visible but untouchable media”.
In May, 2006, I had a solo show titled “Spinning thread of Light” at Tsuruoka Art Forum in Yamagata, Japan, held shortly after the new opening of the forum. The exhibition divided the floor space of 18m x 18m into five sections of large and small sizes. I displayed 14 works including 3 installations and 10 small holography objects on a pond, about 20 cm deep, outside the building. As the light is reflected, similar to Prism Theory, the colour of the objects and the colour of the reflection on the water are different, much like the dispersion of light from a prism. Those colours also instantly change when the wind blows. This beautiful scene could be viewed from inside of the building as well.
In October 2007 I had a solo exhibition at the Archaeological Site, Villa del Quintili on Via Appia (Appian Way) in Rome, Italy titled “PERCORSI DI LUCE NEL TEMPO” Path of Light in Time. The installation used modern techniques with the sun, light and water dancing on the stage of the remains of ancient Rome wrapped in eternal time. The theme of the exhibition was to share the experience of a journey to re-discover the “Path of Time” from the far past to the present and into the future standing against two thousand years of history. I Installed 300 pieces of holographic gratings in the grassland leading uphill with the background of the ancient ruins on top of the hill. The objects had diameters of 80m and 150m. They were visible from the road near the ancient ruins. The scene was a path of bright rainbow dots flowing like a river of flowers in the stream of time. “Murmur of Aqueus” was installed in the ancient water-tank building. The whole area of Villa del Quintili was operated as a Museum and attracts many tourists from around the world. I began setting up one week before the exhibition. During the opening hours of the museum, many people spoke to me with curiosity. The exhibition of the stately stone monuments with the shining rainbow objects looked like brilliant flowers spotted on the slope of the green hill and inspired “renewed recognition of rainbows in nature” and became “the place to experience something new.”
In the winter of 2008 and 2009, and in commemoration of the fellowship at MIT, I was invited to exhibit a large collection of my works. This large group exhibition at the National Art Center, Tokyo, for selected fellowship members was titled “Domani: The Art of Tomorrow 2008”, and was sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. In contrast to the classical art pieces displayed by my contemporaries, I displayed vastly different holograms using multi channel multi-colour holograms, computer generated holograms, large format glass-laminated holograms and also reflection holograms.

Practice and Theory:
In December 2000, I received a grant from the Artist in Residence Program at Holocenter: Center for the Holographic Arts in New York. I spent two weeks producing holograms of frozen moments in time, using a pulse laser. Interested in the human form, I created images of the human body and fabric. I created images of scattered objects in the air such as soap bubbles, feathers, popcorns, silk fibers and moment scenes of fluid-borders between water and oil. These images were transferred to multi channel, multi-colour holograms in another laboratory and completed 2 years later.
Beginning in 2001 and continuing for 3 years, I attended a Doctorial Course of Computer Science and Engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology to study the frontline of modern digital cultures and to think objectively about holography activities as an art medium. In March, 2005, I received a Ph.D. from Tokyo Institute of Technology
In September, 2001, I attended ISTC(International Seminar on Holography and Optical Information Processing), in Bisyukeku, Kirgizstan, Siberia. I created 4 large format holograms (3 pieces are 110cm x 130 cm and 1 piece is 100cm x 180cm). They were rolled up and hand-carried, and installed on location. I also gave a lecture on the application of holography techniques in architecture and introduced Holography as an unknown art medium to the people in Kirgizstan. I was impressed by the former President, Mr. Akayev (in power at that time), who used to be an Optics researcher. He showed great interest in my holography works.
In December 2003, I was invited to the Korean National University of Arts, School of Visual Arts, as a visiting artist. I Delivered lectures and displayed art works. I also held a workshop in the laboratory to create brush stroke rainbow holograms.
During a solo show of “Spinning thread of Light” at the National Taiwan Normal University, in the fall of 2006, I was invited to deliver a 2-week lecture for an intensive course in holography art to be delivered in July, 2007. Between March and June, 2009, I am invited to the National Taiwan Normal University as a guest professor for the new semester in Holography Art.
In Japan, I have been in charge of a course titled Art Environment Theory at the Tokyo Institute of Technology as an Adjunct Professor since 2006.

Mail : Lui écrire

Ville : Tokyo, Japon

Nombres d'œuvres :

• Peintures : 0
• Photos : 0
• Sculptures: 0
• Dessins : 0
• Autres : 5
• Nombre Total d'œuvres : 5