Sohei Nishino spent 23 days in the Himalayas. Fascinated by the historical meaning and symbolism of Everest, he walked the road to the mountain. He walked from Lukla to the Gokyo peak, crossing the Cho-La pass. He walked leaving the trails behind, looking for the fortuitous and the accidental. It evoked the Sherpas and those who make the mountain their home. He was not interested in conquering any summit but in shaping a map based on his own experience. On his way back, he carried about 400 reels in his backpack. "The journey to discovery", as the author refers, would continue in the dark room.
In his study, in Tokyo, he printed hundreds of contact sheets (all with 35 mm formats). Later he would trim the frames individually with scissors, giving shape to a large collage that will be reproduced in limited editions. An elaboration process during which the artist recovers the memory of the trip and reimagines both the visited place and its sensations. Thus , Mount Line, Everest is part of the series of large cartographic works that Nishino has been creating since 2003. Inspired by Inō Tadataka - an 18th-century Japanese cartographer, who also did his studies on foot -, he has mapped twenty cities throughout the world. As a contemporary flank , attracted by the energy of the cities, in constant renovation, he has traveled the streets of Tokyo, London, Paris or Amsterdam without haste for months, attentive to the details, silently observing their contrasts, aware that they wander without The course is the materialization of a freedom that is translated into a map of experiences.
It was from 2016, when enjoying an artistic residence in North Carolina, he decided to look at nature. “When observing the forests, I realized that in the radius of three meters I could find different types of life, layers inside the earth where the energy is comparable to that of the cities,” says the Japanese artist. "I had previously thought that the city and nature were in opposition but, observing nature through a macro lens I was surprised by its similarities." Thus the artist will exhibit in the Michael Hoppen gallery the latest projects of the artist: the one carried out at Everest and Journey of Drifting Ice for which Nishino traveled from the north eastern tip of Japan to Shiretoko, on the Hokkaidō peninsula. The artist observed the ice bench that comes from Russia, flows through the Amur River to the Ojotsk Sea to reach Japanese waters. The portrait of these two significant geographies continues to be a reflection on the environmental crisis on the delicate and changing situation of the most remote and unexplored places. Both can be seen, at the gallery stand , next week during the ARCO celebration.
The work Journey of Drifting Ice is suspended from the ceiling. Its edges have been trimmed so that they evoke the shapes and movement of ice sheets in the sea. In all the works the general effect is not that of an aerial view, but a way of seeing three dimensions in the same plane, where the scales vary, the motifs are repeated and overlap, sometimes incongruously, in the same way that the pieces that make up our memory do. From the distance they might seem like abstract compositions, but as the viewer shortens the distance, an infinite number of details arise. His works in black and white have some similarity with medieval maps. The movement of the artist himself acquires a fundamental importance in the elaboration of the work and determines the different shots. "Discovering the world through my physical measurement is a kind of resistance to globalization," he says. "I have been very inspired by ancient maps that reflect a very specific way of measuring and understanding the world." In Mount Line, Everest makes use of color. "I found that at an altitude of about 5000 meters there is no green on the mountain, so I set out to express the physical and geometric gradation changes I experienced as I climbed," explains the artist.
The first time he photographed a trip was on his pilgrimage to the 88 Buddhist temples of Shikoku Island. He did it in order to document his journey, but from there would arise his decision to study art, and later the inspiration of his work. Another source of inspiration was The Invisible Cities , Italo Calvino's novel that explores philosophical themes through descriptions of fantastic cities narrated by Marco Polo. It is that contrast between subjective experience and objective reality that underpins Nishino's work.
“If something we are today is over-mapped. Anyone through a screen, can, in a matter of minutes, go to a country, a city, a street, a house, or a door. I guess it's a kind of magic, but then why does it fade so soon? ”Writes William A. Ewing about Nishino's work. "Where is the amazement we feel when looking at medieval maps, when cartographers felt justified in filling the incognito terra with imaginary islands and two-headed men?" There is no terra incognita in the virtual era of Google Street View , but land to protect. Thus, while technology is conquering the spaces of the imagination, Nishino reminds us that "reality is only important if it is based on our experiences." Roads, like Calvin's dreams and cities, are built "of desires and fears."
A selection of images of the exhibition selected in this photo gallery.
Sohei Nishino. Everest & Journey of Drifting Ice . Michael Hoppen Gallery. ARCO stand. From February 26 to March 1.
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