Observing the Form of Time


- - - The single red line pulsing up and down depicts a heartbeat. HEARTBEAT-SASAKI draws while actually listening to his heartbeat, thereby giving visualization to his own time.

Although regular, the line is not uniform like the repetitive motion of a machine. A line having amplitude, drawn by the artist while listening to the sound of his own heart, it is beautiful in the way it continues on and entirely fills a large sheet of paper. Because the peaks of the line as it rises and falls slightly touch those of the lines above and below, a net-like mesh forms over the paper, one so minute it can make the viewer dizzy.

This exhibition displays ten 24-hour drawings created during the decade from 1998 to 2008. Even in a single drawing, the heartbeats do not all look the same, but if we compare drawings, further differences stand out, such as slight differences in color of the ink or amplitude of the line’s swing, features that differ with the year of production. Such differences are naturally a result of his efforts to refine his art, but at the same time, they are realistically expressive of our lives, which subtly change from time to time. Then, by displaying in combination several drawings, all formed of numerous lines drawn so as to be nearly touching, the artist produces one large picture that suggests how the time lived by even a single person continually grows in amount and expands.

Also presented here are works showing a single continuous line. A single line suggests more emphatically that it represents the heartbeats of particular person. The heartbeats, inscribed on paper in the order they were heard, seem to express an understanding of time as something flowing in one direction, and suggest a ceaseless, straight growth extending forward to maturity. While drawn one by one in a regular manner. The line is seen to loop and overlap with itself and wander into confusion, suggesting thereby how we not only interweave our own time with that of others around us but also give it relationship with the time of distant places. Thus, we are ever newly constructing our own time while influencing and being influenced by others. - - -

Madoka Matsumura/Curator, The MIMOCA Foundation, 2008 (Extracts from "FORM of TIME" exhibition catalogue)






1 MILLION HEARTBEATS, 10 Heartbeat Drawing for 24-Hour, h330 x w670 x d16 cm, ink on paper
1 KILOMETER HEARTBEATS, Heartbeat Drawing-Twin for 100-Hour 2008, 2 x 100000 cm, installation: h100 x w210 x d216 cm, ink on paper
Installation at Marugame Genichiro-Inokums Museum of Contemporary Art, 2008-2009
All works © Heartbeat-Sasaki

「時間の形を見る」


- - - 上下に揺れる一本の赤い線は鼓動を描きとったものだ。HEARTBEAT-SASAKIは実際に聞きとりながら描き、自らの時間を可視化する。
 その線は規則的ではあるが、機械が繰り返したような画一的なものではない。自分の心音を聞きながら描いた振幅のある線が、大きな画面に余すところなく描き連ねられたさまは美しく、
触れた頂点が上下の線にわずかに接するがために網の目状になった画面は緻密で思わず眩暈をおこさせるほどだ。
 本展では1998年から2008年の10年間に描かれた24時間ドローイングを10点、展示する。作品1点の内でも、それぞれの鼓動は決して同じではないが、作品ごとに見比べてみると、
わずかに差異が認められるインクの色や制作年によって特徴がうかがえる振れ幅など、さらに違いが際立つ。作品としての完成度を求めての変化であることはもちろんだが、同時に、
時々で微細に揺らぎ続ける私たちの生が如実に表されたものだと言えるだろう。またいくつもの線が互いに接しながら描きこまれて一つの面を形成し、
その面を組み合わせることによってさらに大きな面を出現させた展示からは、個々の人間が生きる時間の量が増え広がっていくさまがうかがえる。
 一方、1本の線をひたすら長く続けた作品も出品する。1本の線は、これまで以上に「特定の一人の人間」の鼓動であることを強調する。その鼓動は規則的に順を追って聞きとられ、
紙に記されることで、一方向に流れるものとして了解される時間を示しているようであり、成熟へとひたすらまっすぐに延びて行く成長を思わせる。けれども整然と描き連ねられた鼓動が、
そのまま展示されるのではなく、渦巻き、重なり合い、入り乱れて存在する様子は、私たちが自ら得た時間を隣り合う時間とつなげるだけではなく、
遠く隔たった時間をも関係づけ、影響を与えながら改めて固有の時間を構成していることを思わせる。- - -

松村円/キュレーター・財団法人ミモカ美術振興財団、2008年(時間の形展カタログより抜粋)






1 MILLION HEARTBEATS, 10 Heartbeat Drawing for 24-Hour, h330 x w670 x d16 cm, ink on paper
1 KILOMETER HEARTBEATS, Heartbeat Drawing-Twin for 100-Hour 2008, 2 x 100000 cm, installation: h100 x w210 x d216 cm, ink on paper
Installation at Marugame Genichiro-Inokums Museum of Contemporary Art, 2008-2009
All works © Heartbeat-Sasaki