Jacob Hashimoto produces abstract sculptural installations at an awe-inspiring level, using a range of components from blocks, wooden cubes, model boats, to bamboo and paper kites – the latter being the most well-known and definable forms of his work. Suspended from lofty ceilings on either fine lines of nylon or thick ropes, while the white to bold coloured kites act as a textured and layered backdrop to those that are more intricately detailed. Each one an abstract piece, while the plain kites surrounding them act as an extension to the canvas.
The spaces used for Hashimoto’s installations are maximised by the artwork, their tall ceilings allowing a full display of the installation, the viewer’s gaze drawn upwards; seeing as they do all the different layers of a landscape floating in the air. The light casting through the paper to provide an almost opaque look at what’s behind it, and from this guide the viewer to examine Hashimoto’s weightlessness of art in all the detail it deserves, the eyes never looking far from the hundreds to thousands of kites used. The collection being both a cocoon for a metamorphosis, to the big reveal of the final design when seen from afar – the paper constructs being colourful and delicate individually, and powerful as a whole.
The City. From: The City and the Sky, 2020. Portland International Airport, Oregon, USA. Jacob Hashimoto. Photo credit: Mario Gallucci
At times the installations have an appearance of stained-glass windows with their high positions, to the angles of light which reveal details previously missed. Hashimoto’s grand scale installations, with decorations of geometric patterns and nature mosaics combine to reflect the artist’s investigations into; electronic, digital, and traditional games; a reconnection to nature; virtual realities; and an exploration of cosmology; whilst in the construct of “kites” – a sense of time in following traditional Japanese techniques.
Precise with his work, the kites are arranged by similarity from their designs and colours to the shapes; the spherical kites softly layered upon each other as opposed to those that are square and more strictly ordered and rigid. This separation creates a sharp contrast that causes the installations to pop further from the flat walls that surround them.
The Dark Isn’t the Thing to Worry About, 2017-2019. From: The Heartbeat of Irreducible Curves: Part II. Studio la Città, Verona, Italy.
Jacob Hashimoto. Photo credit: Michele Alberto Sereni
When the kites of Jacob Hashimoto’s installations drop downwards to be on the same level as the viewer it feels as if you’re looking through a myriad of thoughts; the unconscious views of the artwork having now moved into the physical consciousness below, leaving you to become absorbed by it.
