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Lot Essay
Nishizawa's work preserves the traditional Yamato-e school of composition of a high vantage point, the assortment of people with their uniform clothing, hair styles, and accoutrements setting off the painting's unity and highlighting its themes. The movements of the various figures are connected by its visual effects to create the dynamic of the painting. Nishizawa primarily focuses on depicting the negative social effects Japan's modernization. In New town (Beautiful Life) (Lot 936) and Highway across the Outskirts (Lot 937), we find men and women consumed with themselves, the Japanese people.
Nishizawa's addition of a realistic scenario unexpectedly grounds his works in reality and we realize that the actions and emotions of Nishizawa's depicted figures may not differ from the common man or woman. They are unable to stray beyond their known boundaries symbolized by the highways and wander freely below them, mingling with the machinery. In Dreamy farm-6 (Lot 935) Nishizawa has depicted the people and their utmost superficial, luxury desire. It is a desire for these designer cars so great that the intensity is replicated in the heart shaped flower barrier. These ignorant men and women naively surround one another and congregate in a semi-constructed building, reiterating the flight of imagination for a relaxing luxurious life to which for many is improbable. As depicted in all three of Nishizawa's offered works, the triteness of our goods oriented society is manifested through the mingling people who are disinteresting and predictable, in their monotonous clothing and nonchalant behaviour.
Nishizawa's work illustrates the absurdities of life and the gap between external behavior and internal desires in an economically advanced society where individuals are devoted to gaining acceptance from the group. At the same time, there is a sense of emptiness and insignificance as the small figures get dressed in the same attire to go about their daily tasks en-masse. Chiharu uses bright animated colours to bring us a humorous view of this strange phenomenon. The overall print-like quality and miniature size of the figures easily misguides the viewer into believing that the work is pure fantasy, allowing us to we finally see how the artist subtly brings our attention to greater social issues of Japan itself.
Nishizawa's addition of a realistic scenario unexpectedly grounds his works in reality and we realize that the actions and emotions of Nishizawa's depicted figures may not differ from the common man or woman. They are unable to stray beyond their known boundaries symbolized by the highways and wander freely below them, mingling with the machinery. In Dreamy farm-6 (Lot 935) Nishizawa has depicted the people and their utmost superficial, luxury desire. It is a desire for these designer cars so great that the intensity is replicated in the heart shaped flower barrier. These ignorant men and women naively surround one another and congregate in a semi-constructed building, reiterating the flight of imagination for a relaxing luxurious life to which for many is improbable. As depicted in all three of Nishizawa's offered works, the triteness of our goods oriented society is manifested through the mingling people who are disinteresting and predictable, in their monotonous clothing and nonchalant behaviour.
Nishizawa's work illustrates the absurdities of life and the gap between external behavior and internal desires in an economically advanced society where individuals are devoted to gaining acceptance from the group. At the same time, there is a sense of emptiness and insignificance as the small figures get dressed in the same attire to go about their daily tasks en-masse. Chiharu uses bright animated colours to bring us a humorous view of this strange phenomenon. The overall print-like quality and miniature size of the figures easily misguides the viewer into believing that the work is pure fantasy, allowing us to we finally see how the artist subtly brings our attention to greater social issues of Japan itself.