PIXCELL-DEER #10

The internet has probably spoiled humankind. With a simple keyword, we can easily find whatever image that we need. In this age of sensory overstimulation, the internet has infinitely expanded our vision. All that is required is curiosity. Without ever setting foot in the outside world, we can view millions of peculiar vistas and objects whenever we desire. Naturally, we feel that we have closed the distance between us and the world, and reality is within our reach.

In 16th century Europe, where the Internet had not yet come into existence, if we were to learn something new, the most direct way was to observe the matter ourselves, either directly or indirect by looking at an image. At the time, the most popular way of image production was printmaking. In German printmaker Albrecht Dürer woodcut Dürer's Rhinoceros (Fig. 1), he depicted a powerful beast with hide as thick as plated armour. Its legs and torso are covered with intricate folds and patterns. Rhinoceros are native to India. At the time, Europeans had yet to see a rhinoceros in the flesh. Thus, Dürer's Rhinoceros was considered the standard, and his depiction of the exotic animal swept across the entire continent of Europe becoming one of the most famous works in art history featuring an animal. The truth is, Dürer had never seen a rhinoceros himself. His woodcut was based on a sketch by an anonymous artist. This explains why Dürer's rhinoceros is not entirely natomically correct— it is an amalgamation of a referenced reality and the imagination.

Kohei Nawa's sculptures had made him one of the most acclaimed young artists in Japan. Similar to the creative process in which Dürer's Rhinoceros was made, Nawa does not see his subject matter in person. Instead he finds the suitable subject matter on the Internet, many of which are animal taxidermy. After purchasing them online he later modifies them. The digital image is to Nawa what the sketch of the rhinoceros was to Dürer. The artists are dependent on these images to understand reality. Without them, they cannot continue to develop their own concepts. Nawa subsequently covers the entire object with transparent spheres of various sizes. Although the original form of the object can still be made out, its details can no longer be deciphered. Similar to Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapping the Reichstag in fabric (Fig. 2), this treatment changes the surface characteristics of the object. It creates for viewers another layer of an abstract aesthetic that is distinct from reality. Such lyricism is also reminiscent of Meret Opphenheim's surrealistic fur-covered tea set. (Fig. 3) Nawa raises the crucial question of "What is real?" — Is it the object? Is it the transparent spheres? Or is it the pixels that constitute the digital whole?

Nawa calls the process of using transparent spheres to form sculptures 'PixCell' —a portmanteau of the English words Pixel and Cell. A pixel is the smallest unit that makes up a digital image; similarly, a cell is the basic building block of every organism. The transparent spheres unify taxidermy, toys, and musical instruments— objects of different compositions, into a homogenous family. PixCell becomes the cell of these sculptures. Similar to how pixels make up all the images in the digital world, Nawa is able to skilfully reconcile the dichotomy between the virtual world and the real world, by representing the result in a visually comprehendible way.

Charles Darwin published the controversial book On the Origin of Species in 1859. One assertion that is the most difficult to accept is humans and other organisms all share a common ancestor. Through extensive genetic sequencing and comparisons, scientists were able to draw a phylogenetic tree in 1999 that demonstrates that the present day human, bonobos, and chimpanzees all have the great ape as a common ancestor. Based on this theory, Nawa's PixCell can be developed into a world view that everything in the universe is equal. Anything that has been processed by his PixCell treatment will become a new species with common genes. Kohei Nawa not only directs the audience to reflect on how the self relates to everything in the universe, he also inspires us to imagine the infinite ways that the future can evolve.

Deer is a reoccurring subject matter in Kohei Nawa's PixCell series. The Japanese's love for deer is most likely based on the Shinto belief that they are the messengers to the Gods (Fig. 4). PixCell: Deer #10 (Lot 24) is a deer head that is covered with transparent spheres. Formally, it is comparable to Damien Hirst's For the Love of God, in which a skull is covered with a single type of sparkling gem -- diamond. Upon close inspection, the fur of the taxidermy is clearly visible on PixCell: Deer #10. However, viewers can only momentarily receive this visual information— they are constantly being disrupted as they move their gaze from one sphere to another. These myriad images combine to form the complete imagination of the deer head. When viewed from a distance, the sculpture looks like a pixellated blur on the computer screen. Yet, the transparent spheres assure us that they do in fact exist in the objective reality. The viewer's understanding of the object is dependent on whether he or she perceives it as a deer or an assembly of transparent spheres first. Kohei Nawa's artist treatment piques the viewers' curiosity. To be closer to reality, one must return to relying on their basic visual perceptions in order to full comprehend the work.

The twenty-first century is the age of the virtual. Technology ceaselessly changes our perception of reality. In Kohei Nawa's PixCell, viewers are able to swim freely between the real and the virtual; and through this process, we are able to momentarily feel the universe becoming one.