Toshiya Hata
I was shown a truly fascinating approach to making art.
The sight of books that existed in the far distant past — the 1600s and 1700s — spread out before me in abundance as works of art gave me the sense of having wandered into some mysterious world. In a pure-white-walled gallery in the present day of 2017, a dignity, a gravitas, and the spirit of the people who once surely lived seemed to come through, and it made me feel a certain solemn resolve.
Toshiya Hata is a sculptor who works with old books, apparently pressing and hardening them under forces of 100 to 200 kg. As a result, even though they are old books, they take on masses like blocks of wood, and perhaps because the surface is also coated, they gave off a smooth, lustrous sheen.
He also combines the hardened old books with metal, watch parts, magnifying lenses, and the like, turning them into finished works that look like antiques.
The books he uses are collected widely — centered on Europe, such as the Soviet Union, France, and Italy, but also from Japan, Mongolia, and elsewhere.
The artist himself was present at the gallery and kindly explained each piece in detail. It was just like a “live audio guide.”
Every single work in the gallery seemed to carry Hata’s distinctive flavor; there is certainly a strong individuality here, one that “cooks up” any book into a work of his own.
Looking over the list of works, there were many that made me wonder, “Why that name?” The naming is so interesting that you want to keep listening to his stories forever.
He is very prolific, and many of the works fall within a range from under 20,000 yen to around 50,000 yen, making them easy to acquire.
The work that caught my eye was the one below, fitted with a magnifying lens. It’s a piece that has you read, through the lens, a book hardened as solid as stone.
There were also works with mechanisms that make sounds.
Hata handled the works casually and without hesitation, right in his hands. The very way he did so seemed to demonstrate how sturdily they are made.
There were so many that I couldn’t make up my mind about buying and settle on just one, but they were works that made me feel like visiting the gallery again.
Overview
JINEN Gallery
Toshiya Hata Exhibition -THE PLANKTONS-
November 14 (Tue) – November 25 (Sun), 2017
103-0001
Kubo Building 3F, 7-8 Nihonbashi-Kodenmacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
http://jinens-art-studio.com/art/
Opening hours: 12:00–19:00 *Until 20:00 on Fridays
*Until 16:00 on the final day
Closed: Mondays
