This blog is now entering its sixth year milestone! I haven't been keeping up since last October. Let me jump start the year with the amazing Noguchi Museum at Long Island, NYC! I didn't really know much about Noguchi's work before the visit, I only knew about his table collaboration with Herman Miller in 1944. The visit was absolutely phenomenal, even though it's a little bit far at Long Island, I still recommend any sculpture lover or architecture enthusiast to go check it out because his work is something you have to see in person to understand. "When an artist stopped being a child, he would stop being an artist." -Isamu Noguchi Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) lived an intriguing life, in which I think every bits of it reflected on his work with honesty. Noguchi's mother was an American writer and his father was a Japanese poet. His father was mostly absent from the family since his childhood, he had to travel a lot with his mother and adpat new environment and cultures. I get a sense that Noguchi was constantly seeking his own identity throughout his life. Even though he grew up in the U.S, he still longed to connect with his Japanese heritage. One of Isamu Noguchi's career mentors was Constantin Brancusi. After finishing sculpture school with a high note, he went to Brancusi's studio in Paris through Guggenheim Fellowship and returned to New York after the completion of the program and a trip to Asia. We can see many influences and homage in Noguchi's work coming from this period. "Brancusi made me realize that what I had learned previously — the quick ways of doing things — was all wrong... It is not the quick solutions. It is not something you learn and apply. After all, it is a search you have to enter into yourself." -Isamu Noguchi Eventually, the war happened and following 7 months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Noguchi volunteered to enter the internment camp in Arizona from New York to try to represent a good image for all the Japanese-American. For me, this was really a selfless act that shows his compassion and how much he values his roots and seeks balance between his nationalities. There were several phases throughout Noguchi's career that helped shape his work and expand his creativity. He had worked with different scales from small sculptures to set design to large landscapes as well as various materials. Just to name a few, he designed the Constellation piece for Louis Kahn's Kimbell Art Museum, the Black Sun at the Volunteer Park in Seattle, and the gardens for UNESCO headquarter in Paris. There was a phase where he combined the western sculpture technique with Japanese inspired joinery and eventually experiemnt it with bronze-plating to play with the weight & weightlessness. During his late life, he worked primarily with the materials themselves, instead of depicting the form and outcome as his design, he allowed the stones to guide him. I get a sense that Noguchi wanted to preserve his legacy as much as he could. From publishing his autobiography to founding his own museum in 1985, Noguchi understood that his work could have a long lasting impact in this world even after he's gone. The museum was originally part studio and part exhibition space, and they still keep it like an atelier after Noguchi passed away. Instead of being a delicate enclosed exhibition space, the museum is mainly juxtaposed with open workshop area and enclosed storage space. For me, the architecture is just as honest as Noguchi's work, not flashy nor pretentious, and the space allows the sculptures to breathe. The switching between indoor and outdoor is brilliant since it makes you hyper-aware of the weather and environment, and thus, adds that fourth dimension 'time' into the exhibition. There's no pre-determined circulation, visitors are simply guided by what attracts them, it could be from the lightwell, it could be from the outdoor garden, it could be from the aroma of coffee from the gift shop, you never know what is going to show up at the next corner. It's a museum that you can explore on your own pace and actually appreciate art work. "The essence of sculpture is for me the perception of space, the continuum of our existence." -Isamu Noguchi What I like about Noguchi's work are the wholeness, timelessness, and the transparency. His accurate perception of space and form makes sculptures more than just tangible objects, but an manifestation of human emotions. And his multi-cultural background is something I personally can relate to as well. It's amazing to see an artist that can break from the shackles of Eastern and Western arts and elevate his work into something deeper. I can't really cover much about Isamu Noguchi in one single blog post though, if you want a more thorough understanding, you should check out the lecture linked below. I also highly recommend his autobiography. 'til next time! "For me it is the direct contact of artist to material which is original, and it is the earth and his contact to it which will free him of the artificiality of the present and his dependence on industrial products." -Isamu Noguchi
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AboutThis blog was launched in August, 2015 during my 8th year of studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain. I decided to start this blog and record some of my thoughts and moments. This blog is also dedicate to Richard Fu, a good friend of mine who is now guarding me from above. He inspired me to get out of the comfort zone and be curious about the world. Amig@'s blogs
Check out my brother Will's blog (in Mandarin) to see what he's up to these days (Design, fashion, food, technology, music, film...etc) Check out Kris' website for some high quality photos around the world Archives
September 2023
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