ThisIsColossal.com Artwork

For tonight's class, I chose Riusuke Fukahori’s artwork from thisiscolosal.com to be the piece for discussion. I'm not entirely sure how we will discuss these works, but I enjoyed searching the site.

Though I looked through multiple artworks from installation to illustration, I had one of my strongest reactions to the encounter with Fukahori's work. Fukahori's painted resin goldfish are beautiful to say the least. I appreciate that they are both painterly and sculptural, pretty and poignant.

He writes about his work:

In the aquarium, similar to human society, there is a story of birth and death. As long as they live, these goldfish will continue to soil the fish tank, and if not changed, the water will only get tainted leading to death for all the goldfish. This is quite true for the human species as well… The goldfish that I paint are not really goldfish, but representations of people. I feel as though the fish tank is only foretelling what would happen to the earth in the future. We as human beings are the main source polluting our own air we breathe.

One component of our readings this week is the emphasis on post-modernism artistic responses to social issues. Based on this artist statement, Fukahori is responding to multiple social concerns through his work. A few lines of flight I've noticed right away include:

WASTE (environmental, recycling, social waste/not addressing 'problems' of our social and physical environments in time to prevent toxicity) The "water" contains traces of string-like fish waste which if left uncleaned, will poision the water. The work may be too literal for Deluzian's taste, but I'm not sure having only a crash-course into his philosophy with this week's readings.

PRIVACY: I think there is also a connection to public and private. Fukahori often chooses to keep his scenes in wooden containers rather than clear bowls - increasing the privacy of the "goldfish." Rather than peering through the glass of a clear aquarium, the viewer has to intentionally peer over a wooden container to "peek" into the intimate aquarium. In this way, the works invite the viewers into the space and encourage us to "see ourselves (maybe literally with the reflections of the resin) in the environment of the goldfish.

REFLECTION: He has a meditative process of layering the resin and paint. This appears to allow the artist points of reflection. As the resin dries between coats, the aritst can reflect on his work, plan ahead, and admire the progress. I'm sure there is something very fulfilling about layering the works and watching it progress. I am thinking about the process as a type of transcendence, which makes me more curious about why Deluze considers it to be "violent."

There are elements of sense and non-sense to the work in that it is fairly whimsical while being simultaneously realistic. The work also resonates with me personally - fish and goldfish are a recurrent surreal theme in my dreams. Perhaps this constituted to the inital attraction when I encountered the works.