| Akira Higashi |
 Akira Higashi is an artist by trade, but he is an architect in the minds of those who engage in his art. Akira’s art is made to be inhabited, sometimes by more than one person at a time, but it is the material aspect of his work that these shifting relationships between people, art (and architecture), and place becomes clear. Clay, wood, straw…these materials evoke images of traditional building techniques in Japan and North Carolina alike and force us to reconsider the ease of detaching the current technologies of our built environment from the so-called primitive technologies from which they were derived. These and similar questions are at the center of Akira’s practice whereby he seeks to engage individuals in the thought project that drives Force of Nature as well, namely the “relationship between the ways we live and the world we live in.”
Akira speaks of the world and his sculpture according to three primary bases for design: user, place, and time. The fact that he speaks of users of his art rather than viewers is an indication of his approach. Akira is not interested in making forms for form-making’s sake; rather, he seeks to explore how individuals interact with his architectural pieces and how that relationship changes with time. His sculpture requires a level of intimacy with the art and its construction that, in turn, forces the user to move beyond the exterior form to the experience that waits on the interior. Akira’s art is made to be inhabited, sometimes by more than one person at a time, which again raises the question of his sculpture’s existence as something architectural, but it is in the materials that the full order and interaction between these shifting relationships between people, art (and architecture), and place becomes clear. Clay, wood, straw…these materials evoke images of traditional building techniques in Japan and North Carolina alike and force us to reconsider the ease of detaching the current technologies of our built environment from the so-called primitive technologies from which they were derived. To let Akira speak for himself: “Surface, by its very nature, must always co-exist with supportive structures whether physical or not. In my work I have tried to express the importance of these structures and their strength. I have transferred this concept into the world directly surround us especially our living environment. In this way it is possible to form a relationship between the ways we live in and the world we live in. My interest is in the actual experience of people; what happens to a person at the particular moment at that spot, rather than expressing or representing my internal images. I utilize familiar and appropriate materials such as mud, wood, bamboo, and wire to create constructions that are based, initially, on the dimensions of the human body. My work is similar to architecture in the way that an audience can walk in and participate.” |
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