Tatsuo Kawaguchi: Language, Time, Life

There are a number of boxes displayed orderly. Each of the boxes contains the darkness. Certain darkness has been kept in a box since 1975. Therefore, probably it can also be said that 1975 years are in the box. Nevertheless, as soon as the box is opened, the darkness is exposed to the light and has nowhere to go. Then the time comes to converge on the present so rapidly that we cannot look inside of the box. Indeed, we can peek in the box if we open it, but at that moment, the darkness disappears. The nature of the darkness is ensured as long as it is kept in the box.

This is the reason the boxes make me feel as if they are caskets. I would like to consider the creation entitled “DARK BOX” (1975-) [fig. 1], which we encounter first in the venue, as a funeral of the “dead” - the darkness - which can never be conducted in sight. Based on this thought, I reach to the conclusion that this solo exhibition of Tatsuo Kawaguchi at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, which is composed of three sections named “Language”, “Time” and “Life”, respectively, seems to be organized under the consecutive theme of a stream from death to life. There is a similarity between “Time” and “Life” in that they change from time to time and have the irreversible nature. We can neither slip from a time axis nor get younger. Therefore, it is necessary for us to cut off “Time” at a certain point and entomb “Life” in order to consider the essence of “Time” and “Life”. In other words, we, the viewers, can glimpse the essential quality of “Time” and “Life” only after they are reset once and the moment of resetting is presented to us.

Assuming that the creation first above written, “DARK BOX”, is an example of works which represent death, the “Navigation across Time” (wooden ship/seed [lotus]/beeswax/copper wire/copper pipe/pigment/188.0cm×833.0cm×235.0cm [hull], 2009) [fig. 2] and the “Carousel to Pegasus” (wood/ seed [lotus]/beeswax/copper wire/copper pipe/pigment/feather duster/lead, 70.0cm×115.0cm×155.0cm, 2009), which was displayed on the “Navigation across Time”, can be said to symbolize life. These two works give us an intense impression of their colorings which cannot be found in any other creations shown in this exhibition. This would show that the two pieces represent energies of life straightforwardly. To the surface of the wooden ship which was painted all yellow, lotus seeds were attached everywhere using copper wires. The two works are displayed in the last exhibition room. Therefore, in this room, viewers would definitely recall that lotus seeds were also used in other exhibits. In addition, these two works would remind them of other creations shown in this exhibition which were created embedding seeds of lotus as well as those of many other plants in lead. Here, I feel as follows. I could not find any positive factor for life in all exhibits excluding the “Navigation across Time” and the “Carousel to Pegasus”. In fact, Kawaguchi selected lead as one of materials of his works because of the nature of lead which breaks radiation, but, regardless of such a social message which he intended to convey to viewers, seeds of plants have been deprived of their nature as creatures while being protected from others since they are covered with lead. As with the “DARK BOX”, the “Seven Thousand Grains of Life” (lead/7,000 grains of seeds [lotus] ,variable, 2009) which expresses a solemn image by utilizing the color of lead and are displayed orderly, makes me imagine a funeral. Is this due to my excessive negative aspect? Maybe not. Nevertheless, Kawaguchi’s creations absolutely contain “death” as well. This would be the reason why the “Navigation across Time” heading for “life” and the “Carousel to Pegasus” play a role as redemption in the last exhibition room.

I would like to regard this exhibition as one creation in whole. Indeed, the exhibition successfully introduces no less than 149 of Kawaguchi’s works in detail through the three sections, but this means exactly the same thing that our bodies are made up of various kinds of parts. Viewing the exhibits on the perspective of following a stream from “death” to “life”, we recognize that his creations express “death” which we are forced to experience in our lives while they lead us to “thinking” which is feasible only while we are living. Throughout this exhibition, Kawaguchi presents us with the world which is not easily understandable but profound.

(Translated by Nozomi Nakayama)