HIROSHI KARIYA
We Own "The Now Is"
"If what is called life is recorded only narratively and cannot be presented, how such a record is exhibited in the art space without distorting its qualities. Is it possible? In many cases, art documentation is presented in the context of the installation, but the installation is not only the images and texts, other objects installed on the spot, but also the space of the installation itself.
It is an art form that plays a decisive role. This space is not abstract or neutral, but is itself a form of life. Thus, the documentation is an act of writing oneself into a particular space. Forming as an installation is not an act of neutral exhibition, but an act of storytelling in the dimension of time, so to speak, an act of writing to life, "said *Boris Grois.
* Boris Groys "Art in the Biopolitical Era-From Art Works to Art Documents"
(2002, via installationia-blog)
-"The now is" Writing-
Everything exists in “oneness” in "simultaneity." This includes everything that is visible, invisible, constantly changing, and existing in different dimensions and densities.
Kariya integrates and presents this "oneness" in a trinity of words: “pointing," "naming," and "acting." The three words are ① pointing "The," ② the representational object "now," and ③ existing "is," which appear simultaneously with everything else. The structure is that the three letters appear simultaneously as "demonstrative pronoun," "representation," and "existence." These three letters also indicate the simultaneity of three structures that exist both consciously and unconsciously during writing and reading. Regardless of consciousness, it is a simultaneity with everything in this world, including trash, feces, miso, and evil.
It is a presentation of a semantic illusion, asking whether you can understand the fact that everything is included. This implies a semantic shift in the meaning of the words "what is the present moment?" ① That which appears now in ② the representation ③ represents the background of the time of creation; news articles and events are used for historical context.
The three letters show the simultaneity of symbolism, materiality, and the act of description, revealing the system of social structures that materialize on the surface. In the exhibition, it plays the role of eliciting a perspective to observe and verify the true nature of the illusory landscape of the information society.
Kariya presents a virtual experience record using the principles of art. Virtual means that it does not retain its form but continues to flow, an attached file stored in a temporary frame, a temporary encoding of the perspective "The now is." The extreme position, THE, is no longer THE, a theoretical argument of eternal debate; imagination is creation, presenting a prize. Therefore, it encodes virtual expression into everyday encounters. It is a playful scholarship that is only a simulation of the present. The work is an attachment and explanation of personal beliefs, consciousness, existence, or itself. The painting, as an illusion unbound by the constraints of time and space, becomes one with the three-letter composition "The now is." In other words, the immortal past and future are presented and viewed in this "present moment."
-The Simultaneity of "The now is"-
The three letters "The now is" are a code that declares the simultaneity of all existence. Each of the three letters independently connects referent, creation, and phenomenon into a single system. The three letters explain the structural concept in which the trinity of "subject, phenomenon, and existence" is simultaneously realized. Kariya consciously experiences the present through the act of description. Nature, phenomenon, and existence are all one. Therefore, each and every one of us, including the dust, possesses "the now is." And I am one with "the now is." Simultaneous with the dust. Therefore, there is no distinction. The structure "the, now, is" is a tool for observing intention, creation, and action. The unconscious is created through repeated description and action. We are powerful conscious beings. Our intended goals are materialized through repeated practical actions and intense contemplation. Starting with the virtual, we move down to the details of the real world, intending a scene that is vibrant with emotion.
-About The Face Sutra-
A work is presented as a "structure" for observing superficiality. The surface is the back, or explanation of the background, and the back is the layer of observation from the viewer's perspective. It is a device that reveals the superficial side of structure. Structure is a story of superficiality, and story is a story of information. Explanation is a mechanism that evokes further explanation. How can these be reflected in society? The creative process, metaphorically referred to as "narrative," is intentionally left pictorially on the surface as traces of description. "Artistic quality" is presented as an in-progress action or a fragmented account of life. The countless minute details of the objects involved in the creative process—their relationships with things, events, and everything in the world—continue to be connected in a single line to the direction of the observer's perspective.
-About The Armory Works-
Kariya accompanied the exhibition of sister works at the 2019 Armory Show with the caption "Law and Order/His." Countless traces of conflict, background, and history remain "pictorially" on the painting's surface. These are labeled "errors," artificial labels for right and wrong, chance, necessity, meaning, and meaninglessness. At the same time, they are integrated into "the now is." Kariya moves between creation, fiction, objectivity and subjectivity, concept and expression. He observes a landscape in which he examiness, observe, and enjoys the structural traces of the brushstrokes—the drips of paint, the definition of surfaceness, and the dialectic of creation.
At the solo exhibition "Archetype" this spring, Kariya had planned to create a "Face Sutra" piece, in which visitors would voluntarily wear face masks. However, the exhibition was canceled and closed early due to the arrival of April Fools' Days of COVID-19. The image of the face is a randomly selected time stamp from a newspaper article, cutouts pasted on the back of a Seed Sutra.
Imagination, chance, and necessity appear simultaneously. Paintings also contain transgressions—mistakes made in action. If the viewer encounters a misalignment of the three letters, it is the paint of a painting that they happen to see, the drips and smudges of a brush, the misalignment of a criminal's brush tip, hesitation, mistakes, or the waveform of scratches on the film of a fabricated "Space Opera 2025."
”生と云うものが説話的にしか記録されず、提示されることができないのならば、そのような記録というものは、その特質を歪めることなしにアート・スペースのなかでどのように展示されうるのだろうか。多くの場合、アート・ドキュメンテーションはインスタレーションのコンテクストにおいて提示されるが、インスタレーションというものは、画像や文章、その場に設置されるそれ以外のオブジェだけでなく、インスタレーションの空間そのものが決定的役割を果たす芸術形式である。
この空間は抽象的あるいはニュートラルなものなのではなく、それ自体が一つの生の形式をなしている。かくして、ある特定の空間へ自らを書き込む行為としてドキュメンテーションを一つのインスタレーションとして形づくることは、ニュートラルな展示の行為ではなく、物語が時間の次元で果たす行為と言える。
いわばそれは、生への書き込みという行為なのだ。”と＊ボリス・グロイスは表現した。
＊ボリス・グロイス「生政治時代の芸術ー芸術作品からアートドキュメンテーションへ」
（2002, via installationia-blog)
ー「the now is」の記述ー
全ては「ひとつ」の「同時性」に「存在」する。それは見えるもの、見えないもの、変化し続けているもの、異なった次元、異なった密度にあるもの一切である。刈谷はその「ひとつ」を「示すこと」「名指すこと」「行為すること」の三位一体の言葉に統合し呈示する。
三文字は①示すこと「The」②表象オブジェ「now」③存在する「is」によって一切全てとの同時に現出する。三文字は「指示代名詞」「表象」「存在」として同時出現するという構造である。その三文字は書く時と読む時、意識・無意識下に関わらず存在する三つの構造の同時性をも指し示す。それは、この世界一切の絶対同時性であり、ゴミ、糞、ミソ、邪悪も含まれるのだ。
「全てが含まれる」という事実をわれわれは理解できうるだろうか？という意味イリュージョンの呈示である。そこに「いま在いまとは？」という文字の言意言霊が瞑想を誘引する。①その②表象のいま現れ在るものは③制作時の背景を代弁する、報道記事や事象が時代考証に用いられる、と生るのである。
三文字は記号性、物質性、記述行為の三つの同時を指し示し、それらが表面に具現化する社会構造の系を露にする。展示に於いて情報社会の仮象風景の正体、観察、検証などの視点を誘発するのである。
刈谷は、アートの原理を用い仮想体験記録を呈示する。仮想とは、形を止めず流動し続け、仮りフレームに格納される添付ファイル、一時的エンコード「The now is」の視座を示すのである。 極座、THEはもはやTHEではない永遠論議の空論、想像は創造であるプライズを提示するのだ。だから、仮想表現を日常の出会いにエンコードする。それは現在の擬似でしかない遊びの学問である。 作品は個人的な信念、意識、存在、又はそれ自身についての添付であり説明である。絵画THEという時空の制約を受けないイリュージョンと三文字のコンポジション「The now is」に意識一体化する。つまり不滅の過去未来はこの「いま現在」に呈示され眺められるのである。
ー「the now is」の同時ー
「the now is」 三文字は全存在の同時を宣言するコードである。 三文字それぞれは独立し指示体、創造、現象がひとつの系につながる。三文字は「主体、現象、存在」の三位一体が同時実現する構造概念を説明する構図である。 刈谷は記述行為に現在を意識体験する。 本性、現象、存在すべてはひとつである。だから塵も含めた吾々一つ一つは「the now is」を所有する。 そして私は「the now is」 とひとつである。塵と同時である。故に、そこに差別は生じない。構造体「the、now、is」は、意図＝創造＝行為を観察する道具である。記述と行為の繰り返しに無意識化は図られる。私たちは強力な意識存在である。 意図する願目は実践行為の繰り返しと強度の念じにより具現化する。仮想に始まり現実世界での細部に至り感情に躍動する情景を意図するのである。
ー表面経または顔経ー
作品は表面性を観察する「構造体」として提示される。表とは裏側＝背景の説明であり、裏側という観客の視座観察の層。構造という表面性の側面を表し見せる仕掛けである。構造とは表面性の物語であり、物語とは情報性の物語である。説明が説明を更に呼び起こすからくりである。それらが社会にいかに反映され得るのか。比喩に「物語性」という制作過程が記述の痕跡として絵画的に、意図的に表面に残されている。「作品性」が行為の途上、又は生命の断片説明として提示される。制作プロセスに含まれるモノ達の無数の微細が、 事柄や出来事、全世界のあらゆるものとの関係が、手繰られ観察者の視座の行方と一本につながりつゞけていると言いつづけるのである。
ーアーモリショウ作品ー
刈谷は2019年のアーモリーショウで「法と秩序/彼女の」という文を姉妹作品の展示に添えた。絵画の面には無数の葛藤、背景、経緯の痕跡が「絵画的に」残されている。それらは「間違い」と名指され正誤、偶然、必然、意味、無意味といった人為人工の呼称符号である。それらも同時に「the now is」に統合される。刈谷は、創り、虚構、客観性や主観性、概念と表現の間を行き来する。表出する筆の誤り＝絵具の滴り、表面性の定義や創りの弁証法の構造痕跡を検証し観察し遊び楽しむ風景を観察するのである。
今年春「Archetype」個展の一つのイベントに於いて観客に任意に顔マスクを着用してもらう「顔経」作品が予定されてあった、だが展示はCOVID19四月バカ到来で早期に中断、閉鎖された。顔のイメージは新聞記事から任意に選んだ時のしるし、切抜きを種子経の裏面に貼ったものである。
思いつき、偶・必然が同時出現する。絵画には犯すもの＝行為を誤ったものも含まれる。観客が、偶然見出す三文字のズレに出逢うなら、それらは、たまたま目にする絵画の絵の具、筆の滴り、滲み、犯罪人の筆先のズレ、迷い、誤り、または捏造の映画「スペースオペラ」フィルムのキズの波形である。
You exist. But (12/2021)
You exist. But, as Gaston de Pavlovsky asks, "By what method, other than your own sensory experience, do you know this?"
Kariya remains silent. He intentionally deconstructs the concept of "existence, explanation" into a tripartite structure, arranging a body that simulates and practices the illusory images of a virtual reality world. He presents a landscape that observes the process of a virtual present where the self experiencing "it" in the virtual world is fragmented and coexists in a state of cognitive dissonance.
Kariya arranges "existence, explanation" into the trinity of "the, now, is." He presents observational art that verifies existence through the recording of intention, thought, action, and consciousness. It is not a depiction of existence, but a landscape observing the virtual nature through the documented traces of the creative process.
Kariya presents the observer → us. Therefore, you, I, and everything else are one. All existence in this world is one. Everything is one: one is everything: everything is simultaneous: simultaneously realized and changing. The act of arbitrarily choosing that one subtlety is the act of choosing one. That one is everything. What you choose is everything arbitrarily. We are the masters who choose it. My alter ego, in my case, bestows a posthumous name upon "that" choice, as a document that the record exists simultaneously with all actions. That document is a testament to the present, representing the simultaneity of all systems: garbage, origin, end, beginning and end, subtle nuances, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, right and wrong.
The surface of the work is nothing more than a group of characters that "explain" "existence," or traces of continuous time symbols. In the exhibition, the illusion between the spatial arrangement, the work, and the physical evidence related to the space-time domain is verified. On the wall, any trace is a prophetic declaration of "existence," and nothing more than a landscape of all systems, chains, relationships, and explanations.
The landscape is a continuous sequence of "this is it, that is it," and "but, it is no longer that." These are temporary phrases, objects. All natures are temporary, and all landscapes "are as they are," thus constituting an endless landscape that must be "continuously recorded." This practice must be carried out consciously with one's own body.
The description is "the now is," repeatedly changing along with events and objects. The description is a landscape that feigns to be a tool for observing and laughing at the schemes of language information such as "archetypes, relationships, explanations, and time," with the grid arrangement of time, space, and place being intentionally considered.
In parallel with the three characters, a "time stamp" representing the virtual "present" is simultaneously attached; it presents the basis and verification of social linguistic information, which is an embodiment in a state of fluid change, such as words, titles, objects, faces, symbols, signs, titles, and codes.....
The work is constant ONGOING "thread" makings. All is from the same source, but with different aspect of life. His early works were exhibited in his solo show at Exit Art, NY in 1989, and following solo exhibition "SUTRA" at ICA Philadelphia, in 1990. It becomes the codex of following works.
“Sutra” Sanskrit; code, thread, string, book binding string, or a scripture. Sacred code, line, measuring line, sequence, column, grid.
Kariya has exhibited at the MOMA PS1 "Meditation" for the "Sound Show" special project, 1979. Exit Art "Sutra" 1989. ICA Philadelphia "Sutra: One thing in everything: everything in one thing" 1990, "Et Maintenant" ENSBA, Paris, 1998, lectures and exhibitions at sebral organizations, museums, galleries.
(copied from 12/2021)
あなたは在る。だが(12/2021)
あなたは存在している。だが「自の感覚経験以外の如何方法で、あなたはその何を知っているのか？」とガストン・ド・パブロフスキーが啓発する。
刈谷は黙る。「その、存在、説明」概念を三位一体構造に意図分解し、仮想現実世界の虚像を擬似実践する身体を配列する。仮想世界で「それ」を体験する己が分断され共存錯誤する仮想現在の過程を観察する風景を提示する。
刈谷は「その、存在、説明」を「the、now、is」の三位一体に配列する。存在を意、想、行、識の記録により検証する観察芸術を提示する。存在を描き写すのではなく制作途上痕跡実録による仮想本性を観察している風景である。
刈谷は観察者→われわれを呈示する。だからあなたも私も一切全てもである。この世界全存在はひとつである。全てはひとつである：ひとつが全てである：全ては同時である：同時に実現し変化している。そのひとつの微妙を任意選択する行為はひとつを選択することである。そのひとつとは全てである。何を選ぶかは任意の全てである。われはそれを選ぶ主である。私の場合という分身は「その」選択に戒名を施す、その記録は行為一切と同時にあるという証文として。その証文はゴミ、元、末、始まり終わり、微々妙々、善悪、美醜、正否、全ての系の同時を代弁する現在の証である。
作品の表面は「その」「存在」を「説明」する文字群、または連続する時符の痕跡でしかない。展示に於いて時空領域に関係する空間配列、作品、物証とのイリュージョンが検証される。壁面では如何なる痕跡も「存在」の称号託宣であり、一切の系、連鎖、関係、説明の風景でしかない。
風景は「これである、それである」であり「しかし、既にそれではない」の連続である。それらは一時的なフレーズのオブジェである。全ての本性は一時的であり、全ての風景は「そのようである」だから「記録しつづける」終わりのない風景である。その実践は己の身体で意識し行わなければならない。
記述は事象物象と共に繰り返し変化する「the now is」である。記述は時・空間、場のグリッド配列が意図され、言語情報の「元型、関係、説明、時刻」などの図りごとが観察され笑い飛ばされる道具を装う風景である。
三文字と並行し、同時に仮想「現在」を代弁する「時の刻」が付随される；言葉、題目、オブジェ、顔、シンボル、記号、称号、符号など流動変化途上の化身である社会言語情報の根拠、検証を提示する…
作品は現在進行形の「スレッド」である。初期作品は、1989年Exit Art, NY、翌1990年にICAフィラデルフィアにて個展「SUTRA」で巡回展示された。
「経」サンスクリット語；意図、いと、糸、紐、系、本、綴じ紐。
神聖な、コード、符号、暗号、測り定める線、数列、列。
刈谷は渡米後「SOUND SHOW」MOMA PS1、1979。「スートラ」EXIT ART, 1989。「スートラ」ICA Philadelphia, 1990。「どないやねん」展、 ENSBA, Paris, 1989, 他各諸団体、公共機関、美術館、画廊などで講演、展示。
(copied from 12/2021)
2020
The work "OSDLM 2017" is a collage, of a handful of daily works of "Seed Sutra", on a transparent plate. There are two layers, one on the front and the other on the 2nd layer behind, with seeds on the front and data of the work in progress (instruction, quantity, location, mistakes, corrections, rewrites and fabrications) .
Hiroshi Kariya, OSDLM2017, Assemblage of Seed Sutra, Mizuma and Kipps, New York, 2020
2019
The work is made as a document of making, with foot note directly left on the surface as painter’s brash stroke. It is in-facts as whole story was left on the surface under artist’s law and order, whatever is. It is to investigate wether we find any truth or just magical illusion on the surface.
Hiroshi Kariya “OSDLM 2018 Mother” The Armory Show, New York by Mizuma Art Gallery
2019
Combine with Face Sutra and Seed Sutra. The work is made as a document of making, with pasted face articles cutout, as sign of the times collaged. The surface presents as painter’s sign of the time strokes. It is to create the new magical illusion on the surface.
Hiroshi Kariya “OSDLM 2018 Her Children SR” The Armory Show, New York by Mizuma Art Gallery
2019
The work is an installation composed of situated photographs: facial specimens are lined up in a transparent bookshelf storage, image covered with the entire wall. It is the library shelves, and each container has numbers of face masks lined up. The storage is transparent, the groups of faces situated on another layers of the containers behind. The arrangement of faces is casual and lying arbitrarily. Each facial expression captured in a snapshot, set to be an emotional, sentimental, or inquiring, otherwise transparent, prison-enclosed expression.
Hiroshi Kariya, “Archetype”, Mizuma and Kipps Art, New York, 2019
2018
Olga Burakmedi, Independent curator/ @artkukhnia
Kariya Hiroshi says that the code is in “the index to point what is the illusion and the index to point what is the reality”. This world is a twisting the reality and art is trying to bring you back to awareness to differ the illusion from the reality. The code is not out it is inside you.
Olga Burakmedi, “It’s all about the one piece, and millions of others, Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo, 2018
2018
His “the now is” written each day for the amount of a handful of seed pasted the same Palm-sized transparent acrylic, one day “the now is” in the day, along with, we actually see in the Gallery of a myriad of the acrylic is the iterated accumulation. Seed flock while painting with acrylic plate of every different pattern as a whole come a huge movement of small particles.
Another part of this exhibition series, entitled “Face Sutra” further also were on display. Human face news photo article image were collaged on the surface of the each seeds, and pasted on the acrylic, while on the other side “the now is” or “else” was written.
2012 0605 1060 The body of microorganisms is an enzyme
2012 0605 1059 Insurance, Pharmaceuticals, Doctors Trinity
2012 0102 1019 You won't die
2012 0102 1018 You are human now
2012 0102 1017 This is the part inside you
2012 0102 1016 You created the universe
2012 0101 1015 Crazy theory dream
2012 0101 1014 Forget and remember yourself
2012 0101 1013 Nothing exists without you
2012 0101 1012 You created the existence
2012 0101 1011 You changed your appearance
2012 0101 1010 You are "an event"
MORE > selected from Kariya's diary memo.
1998
It is certainly this consciousness that Hiroshi Kariya animates his work. He engraves the names of the genocide scenes being exercised in the world on a black slate plate, which has already healed in the fact that they become news articles and that the articles are cut out. It may have been slaughtered. However, Kariya physically perceived the weight of suffering by recording it in a format at the same time as his sutra, and tried to make this series of actions a prayer to relieve the pain that now tears our planet. is. It is immortal because it is not "coming" but "its present" its continuation.
Izumi Omata, ”Now, THEN, SO WHAT !” Contemporary Art of Japon, ENSBA,1998
1998
Eric Mezil, Directeur du musée Collection Lambert
Hiroshi Kariya's method is, He accumulates passes, sometimes he retains only The title, cut in newspapers whole world events and sticks these words on slates of school chalkboard. On the reverse side, he writes a small sentence in white chalk that will inevitably fade over time. "Now is the now is the now ..." is a lifetime motif in all of his work. For many years he has chosen to live in New York, and like any immigrant, he feels concerned by the problems of his country but also by every drama that taints the world well beyond the archipelago.
Eric Mezil, "Now, THEN, SO WHAT !” Contemporary Art of Japon, ENSBA,1998
2012 0605 1060 微生物の本体は酵素
2012 0605 1059 保険、製薬、医者が三位一体
2012 0102 1019 あなたは死なない
2012 0102 1018 あなたは今は人間です
2012 0102 1017 あなたは内にある全部です
2012 0102 1016 あなたが宇宙を創った
2012 0101 1015 夢中説夢
2012 0101 1014 自分を忘れ思い出す
2012 0101 1013 あなたなしには何も存在しない
2012 0101 1012 存在を創造したのはあなた
2012 0101 1011 姿を変えたあなた
2012 0101 1010 あなたが「出来事なのです」
Selected from Twitter @Me_We_Me_We 2012
内観現実
目を閉じると「現実」が起きます。目を開けて見る世界が「虚構」。
言葉は物質です。でっち上げのグリッドに繋げ物質化させ意識を作動させます。
「明日何が起こるかわからない」という表現は不安が隠されている罠。
「外側の世界」という表現は、分断意識の罠が隠されています。
同様の方法で、自身は好きなように創造をコントロールできます。
この文章も含め書き込みの言葉の洗脳によって物質密度に誘導されます。
安堵感を持って響くとか、平和を思う、祈る、願うの類も反作用の罠。
祈りません「そのようになると」決め、そのイメージをします。
他力本願は、他に何々をして頂く、潜在的支配下を認める罠。
無数に偏在することごとくとはひとつも残さず全て同時存在です。
段階的な、少しづつ、第三密度脱却云々は差別暗示の信じ込ませの裏罠。
自由を求める、という罠。元々自由であるのに、何故求めるのか。
1997
I am still writing “The now is” sutra.
I am still wondering about it.
1997
Takashi Kitaoji, Review on Hiroshi Kariya "1996 Sutra" Exhibition
If a person with no preliminary knowledge visits the gallery in the afternoon, he will not be able to read the letters "the now is", which covers the blackboard as usual, and will probably understand that they are unknown foreign languages on vague grounds of the cut-out of a 1996 newspaper article on the back of the chalkboard - the disasters in Bosnia, Rwanda, and elsewhere. So why is this blackboard appearing here? If I would ask him "Is this Sarajevo ruin here?”, I assume that he would not say yes to it. Then, the ruins placed here are speech-loss. “What is here is one thing: that is everything… nothing exists apart from that” (quote: H. Kariya)
1996
Planting the seed of an idea in the here and now
“...Kariya writes “The now is sutra” on both sides of a dried bean, going through about 100 beans every night before going to bed...with notes of his daily thoughts… Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., his open poem was first in English;
One piece of Brahma Day
One piece of “the now is”
One piece of 8,640,000,000 years
104 pieces”,
Miki Miyatake, The Japan Times, 5.1, 1996
1996
I am still reading ‘The New York Times’;
in different date, in different name, in different place, in different print.
I am still reading ‘The New York Times’; in different words, in different pictures, in different stories.
I am still reading ‘The New York Times’; in different titles, in different times, in different killings.
“1996 Sutra”; (news title sutra), typed on paper, 1996
Words are “produced and exist, so also our presence that the world has existed”, yet I could live without it.
If you have observe the detail of Kariya’s “Chalkboard Sutra”, you will recognize that the writing on this work is not freshly written but layered, written and erased over and over. The chalkboard as media; writing on a
whitish half-clear surface, as it is difficult to erase previously written words perfectly. I think everyone recalls, with this sort of chalkboard image, the memory of school life in childhood.
“Chalkboard; 10 Years later, Chernobyl”
acrylic on masonite+chalk+eraser, collage on reverse side, 1996
1996
“Chalkboard: 10 Years later, Chernobyl” reverse side of work
To enter the gallery floor… is my chalkboard… My foot to enter… My hand to chalk proceed my life…
To enter this life… Proceed my chalk writing… To exit my foot proceed to erase my writing…
With my light particles creating holographic of physicality, everything no begins nor ends, but is the now.
The world is a chalkboard.
Our feet are the eraser
Our hand is a chalk
Within ourselves we built and we demolish
Hiroshi Kariya
“Chalk writing of “∑ 139+89 words”, and placing a daily work of “Seed sutra”, Mizuma Art, Tokyo, 1996
1996
“The concept of ‘making’ as a Buddhist theory of composition...His creation, as well as destruction of visual form; It begins with a concept, that works through his body using feet and hands, and ends with an incredible sight of beauty on the gallery floor... his endless ”the now is” writing...”,
Toshihiko Washio Komei newspaper, 5.15, 1996
1996
“innumerable ‘the now is’ writings in chalk, lead us to another dimension… while you are focusing on the spiral writing,...soon you begin to notice the gallery space transforming into the metaphysical field; from ordinary concrete floor to an aged ancient granite rock, and the wall begin moving away out of sight”
Akio Sagegami, Shodoh Kai magazine, July, 1996
Let the candle light
to see what is writing;
“the now is” to read
“the now is” writing
“the now is” lighting
“the now is”
Reading Candle Writings
curved on candle, 1995, photo; Hideki Hiromoto
I am still writing “the now is”
I am still writing “the now is”
I am still writing “the now is”
1996
“Gallery”, weekly magazine PIA, 4.30
1996
Toshihiko Washio “The concept of ‘making’ as a Buddhist theory of composition...His creation, as well as destruction of visual form; It begins with a concept, that works through his body using feet and hands, and ends with an incredible sight of beauty on the gallery floor... his endless ”the now is” writing...”,
Toshihiko Washio, Komei newspaper, 5.15
1996
Akio Sagegami “innumerable ‘the now is’ writings in chalk, lead us to another dimension...while you are focusing on the spiral writing,...soon you begin to notice the gallery space transforming into the metaphysical field; from ordinary concrete floor to an aged ancient granite rock, and the wall begin moving away out of sight”
Akio Sagegami, Shodoh Kai magazine, July
1996
Miki Miyatake “Planting the seed of an idea in the here and now...Kariya writes “The now is sutra” on both sides of a dried bean, going through about 100 beans every night before going to bed...with notes of his daily thoughts...Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., his open poem was first in English;
One piece of Brahma Day
One piece of “the now is”
One piece of 8,640,000,000 years
104 pieces”,
1995
A.M. Weaver “Hiroshi Kariya’s installation
‘No man is free who is not master of himself’ is a grand crescendo. His chalk board writings, collages and wrapped forms are crowded into a prison-like enclosure… Kariya’s construction attempts to engage the viewer by challenging the perception of prison; here the prison is the self, the mind, systems and world conditions...”
A.M. Weaver , Painted Bride Art Center, catalog essay
1995
Hiroshi Kariya’s “No Man Is Free Who Is Not Master Of Himself” EPICTETUS
is a grand crescendo. His chalk board writings, collages, and wrapped forms are crowded into a prison-like enclosure. (Kariya quote: this is a small scale of our 3D-physically-informed world, we are the prisoner)
Each item, material and mark alludes to a complex matrix of events, activities, public and private and world conditions. No Man Is Free Who Is Not Master Of Himself is a continuum of a work created in 1993. Sign of the Times, Kariya’s installations evolve and flow like a river from one piece to another. An integral part of his process is to compile layer upon layer of data, building each project by expanding or editing depending on time and space.
A. M. Weaver, Curator, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, 1995
1995
NO MAN IS FREE WHO IS NOT MASTER OF HIMSELF
-EPICTETOS-
Installation:
3 The prison is our world,
2 The prison is our nation,
1 The prison is our border,
0 The prison is our religion,
9 The prison is our hierarchy,
8 The prison is our system,
7 The prison is our program,
6 The prison is our classroom,
5 The prison is our choice,
4 The prison is our believe,
3 The prison is our thoughts,
2 The prison is our physicality,
1 The prison is our consciousness,
“13 wrapped bodies lie on the floor inside the prison. Beneath them, the floor is covered with 1000 multisided, chalk writing covered chalkboards. They are individually chalk board is attached with collaged newspaper clippings of our social news articles, and or erased surface. Erasers and chalkboard are randomly placed.”
***
*Large version of 4 installations was originally installed in 1994, at the Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki and Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, under the title “Sign of the times”.
Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, Penn. USA
Hiroshi Kariya, 1995, Catalog Essay
1995
Toshihiko Washio “Kariya is trying to capture ‘Time’ by means of his symbols which appear and disappear. Without their emergence, ‘Time’ exists only in an undisturbed limbo...However, if none exists, no sign appears..the meaning in his writing of “the now is” expands to an extraordinary dimension..”
Toshihiko Washio , Art Journal, magazine, July
1995
Tsunaki Kuresawa “Chalkboard Sutra with combined element, chalkboard, chalk and eraser as one unit...as composition of our world...Each chalkboard is marked with writings or erasing of his ‘the now is sutra’. The phrase is an index which points to every moment of “now”… a meaning extends, at the same time, to the unascertained existence of eternity...”
Tsunaki Kuresawa , monthly art magazine BT, Sept.
1995
Hideki Nakamura “Art as representation of today’s mental structure”,
Hideki Nakamura, monthly art magazine BT, June
1995
“..by using discarded objects to rebuild‘Time’”,
Monthly Gallery, magazine, June
1995
Tamaki Harada “the work is a healing art. His writing of ‘the now is the now is..’ strikes us very deeply to heart.”
1995
Taiji Yamaguchi “small chalkboards each the size of a magazine, similar to a memorial tablet,.. each chalkboard framed in gilt rests on its gilded chalk ledge..the surface layered with repetition of his ‘ the now is sutra’ writing and erasing.”
Taiji Yamaguchi , Akahata newspaper, 6.23
1995
Toshihiko Washio “Striking at first, then a moment of serenity washed over me..He is performing a memorial service; producing a monument dedicated to every moment by infixing his sutra on the surface of the chalkboards...”,
1994
“Writing on Chalkboard exists with the intention of being erased. Written exclusively by hand, it stresses the existence of life. Words are ‘produced and exist, so also our presence that the world has existed”. Once they appear, they vanish quickly. These works are deeply connected with the writer’s movement of hands, body and voice in front of chalkboard; the writing and this activity becomes one. On the surface, Writing on Chalkboard
holds the presence of “now”, it reveals the artist’s voice and performance.
A classroom is a mysterious place where fundamental and universal truths are revealed, where a teacher’s total life experience is exposed.
As I have already mentioned, Writing on Chalkboard does not become invisible, but remains as sheer traces even though they are erased. Through erasing they simultaneously create a background of new writing. This
system is quite similar to human life, isn’s it ? As someone dies, their trace as karma will harmonize with the whole, and forms the background of new life.
I believe that one of the most interesting ideas in Kariya’s work is the fact that he has connected the notion of copying the sutras into Writing on Chalkboard.
In copying sutra, the writer’s life is settled on the paper by written words, which will last for a very long time. Kariya transferred this process from paper to chalkboard and succeeded in showing a momentary and instantaneous side of life. The chalkboard writing expresses a collective “voice” of today’s humanity as if it were one loud scream. In this stage Kariya’s installation is a classroom, yet, at the same time, could be a prison, a barracks or an abandoned house where graffiti/scribbling is found on the walls...
Yasushi Kurabayashi, “Sign of The Times”, Mizuma Art Gallery, catalog
1994
Yasushi Kurabayashi “Kariya’s work is an action complete unto itself with its own complete meaning...Kariya’s work does not present a world situation that is looked at ‘objectively.’ Instead he strives to grasp the world as a whole, including his existence...”
Yasushi Kurabayashi, “Open System”, Art Tower Mito, catalog
1994
Seiichi Watanabe “...The end of life, the cessation of a national system or ideology are all influenced by a sense of termination...Today, have many artists experienced or claim that the horrors of termination are inevitable ?...”
Seiichi Watanabe, “Open System”, Art Tower Mito, catalog
1994
Akio Sagegami “..the expression of his work is in his writing, more specifically, the sutra
writing, which he has simply named ‘SUTRA’ ; the string to connect everything from dust
to debris as one organic living unit...”,
Akio Sagegami, Shodoh Kai, magazine, Aug.
1994
“Installation...his grid (the axis of co-ordinates) drawing on the gallery wall and floor along with placement of the flowers, chalkboards, candles, and the white cloths of fragments... relating to the work at Art Tower Mito’s gallery wall...”
1994
“It was shocking ...Kariya’s work...100 wrapped dead bodies, Collapsed girl and vulture waited...questioned us in what is the real beauty ?...”
1994
“Kariya’s life work theme; ‘The existence is what ‘The now is’ writing is”
1994
“Open System as ‘94 Mito Annual...”
Artist, magazine, Taipei, June
1994
Junichi Konuma “Strong and powerful, Kariya exhibits material as historical evidence and proof of its preexistence”,
Junichi Konuma, monthly art magazine BT, June
1994
Tamaki Harada “Every event of the world is connected to our time in ‘The now is’”
Tamaki Harada, CAZ, magazine, 5.25
1994
“as many as 100 human figure objects, wrapped in white cloth, Kariya’s caustic statement on ‘WAR’...”,
Asahi shinbun, newspaper, 5.12
1994
“Installation, Hiroshi Kariya’s The class room with labyrinth’ expresses our today’s world.”, Art Tower Mito, Mito Annual 1994, 4 artist were selected for this year.
NHK TV video Sunday Review, 5.8
1994
“Sign of the times...Hiroshi Kariya, a N.Y.-based sculpture and art journalist, records words from articles in the news and in journals on tiny blackboards. His installation of 1083 pieces plays up the ridiculous repetition of life’s events.”
1994
Chie Kaihotsu “human figures wrapped bodies attached with many small chalkboard, and written topics from the daily newspaper. It seems like an unusual kind of simulation art, but every detail of work is related to his concept; ‘Sutra’”
Chie Kaihotsu, Studio Voice, May
1994
“Expression of spirit as open- minded in ‘94 Mito Annual”,
1994
Ryoko Hirabayashi “...to guide art for a higher level of system”,
Ryoko Hirabayashi , Elle Japon, magazine, 5.5
1994
“His work examines the sign of the times, with his unique work; Journalistic Painting, Sculpture’”
Geijutsu Kohron, magazine, May
1994
Tamaki Harada “Our world exists as humanity does all on the same plane, at the same time,
they are all connected in one by ‘Karma’”,
Tamaki Harada, City road, April/May
1994
“Kariya who lives and works in New York City, picks up the daily topics from the newspaper, then he copies the titles on the chalkboard...repetition of his writing as much as our world events repeat... as his sutra copying...”
1994
“Sign of the times; monument of the world’s events Year 1993”
Iwate Broadcasting TV News, 4.26
1994
Tsutomu Shimoda “...discarded object as a reference to our Karma”,
1994
Taiji Yamaguchi, “...floor filled with an enormous amount of writings in chalk, an installation, you walk on to”,
1994
Dylana Accolla “Kariya’s powerful Boltanski like monument to war dead is a caustic statement on international diplomatic hypocrisy that contributes to the deaths of thousands of people every year...”
Dylana Accolla , Asahi Evening News, 4.21
1994
Miki Miyatake “Kariya believes that the dead do not vanish from the universe but are present somewhere. To acknowledge their existence, Kariya did a performance that included chalking the topics of his pieces-places of conflicts, oppressed peoples and social problems-on the stone floor of the museum balcony, while those present offered red roses and candles along with their silent prayers....His writing is a confirmation of his life: He writes on air by breathing and on water by drinking...”
Miki Miyatake, The Japan Times, newspaper, 4.17
1994
Tamaki Harada “Open System-Art.. as sutra copying, he picks up-dated topics from daily newspaper, and copies on the discarded objects..Then, he assembles them, and finally he exhibits on the wall, this expression appears as a prayer to the world and for the human races”,
Mainichi Graph, weekly magazine, 4.17
1994
“There is a room filled with work; ‘Gate of Bandages’, ‘World’s Wall (Torn Bosnia)’, ‘ Turk’s Window’, through ‘Wrapped Bodies’, ‘Bloody Stretcher’, and ‘Sand Bags Wall’, laying on the floor while writings on the chalkboards were hung on the wall..”
1994
“Kariya’s performance; 100 bouquet,Candle light, Chalk writing...”
Shin Ibaraki Shinbun, newspaper, 4.2
1994
“Mito Annual ‘94”
Shin Ibaraki Shinbun, newspaper, 4.1
1994
Previews “Will Closed Art be opened ?”
1994
Yasushi Kurabayashi “Conceptual”
1994
Yukiko Shikata “Open System”
1993
“In Memory of 1992”, catalog, Spark Gallery II, April
1993
“Fax from New York; article of Kamaishi’s life-long employment policy,... in New York Time’s front page...”
Katsuhiko Sato , Kahoku Shinpo, newspaper, 5.12, 1993
1993
Katsuhiko Sato “Kariya expresses poverty and war victims as ‘used and useless’ by using discarded objects in his art...What can we do with the limited; nature, resources, city, and human...”
Katsuhiko Sato, Kamaishi Shinpo, newspaper, 5.11, 1993
1993
Hiroshi Kariya “Tale of Sutra; 9 episodes”,
Hiroshi Kariya, Kamaishi Shimpo, newspaper, May/June
1993
“...regarding New York Times’s article about Kamaishi as an example of ‘City as a resource’..What we have done to the city and human was consumption then abandonment...because of past mistakes...Fax from Hiroshi Kariya...”
Katsuhiko Sato, Kamaishi Shinpo, newspaper, 5.4, 1993
1993
Hiroshi Kariya “What is here, is one thing; that is everything, including organic matter, time, space, and events
which become one single unit... nothing exists apart from that. My work of art: its expression, activity, and our life’s form are on the same plane”,
Nikkei Image Climate Forecast, May, 1993
1993
“Mourning in 1992...” Art Now Japan, Mar./Apr.
1993
“Gallery”, PIA, weekly magazine, 3.30
1993
“As journalist’s report, Kariya exhibits today’s wounded world; Somalia, Bosnia, AIDS... in his Art: Journalistic sculpture/ painting”
1993
“In memory of 1992, includes 18 wrapped bodies..”,
AERA, Asahi Shimbun Weekly, 3.30, 1993
1993
“The Year 1992: as journalist, Kariya shows the sadness of our world in his ‘In memory of 1992’”,
APO, biweekly magazine, 3.18, 1993
1993
Katsuhiko Sato “...will we also become the discarded object,... in the near future ?
The discarded object: it was useful, but now useless. We live, and die... a reference to his mother’s death, Kariya exhibits illness and sadness of our today’s wounded world in his ‘In memory of 1992’”,
Katsuhiko Sato, Kamaishi Shimpo, newspaper, 2.26,1993
1993
415 Chalkboard Installation, 415 Palestinians
“Peace Before Land” Rabin
“Land Before Peace” Assad
Hiroshi Kariya, In Memory of 1992, Spark Gallery II, Tokyo
1990
“ICA represents thousands of sutra, by Hiroshi Kariya”,
Penn Life, news, Phil., 3.8, 1990
“Sutra Tomb”, ICA Philadelphia, 1990
1990
“Memory: Ilya Kabakov’s wall”, ICA Philadelphia, 1990
1990
“Kariya illustrates the principle of the sutra by linking his installation with those of ICA’s
past. He recycles walls used in a recent exhibition by Ilya Kabakov,...”,
University City Review, weekly news, Philadelphia., 3.2, 1990
1990
“1 Piece = $1bill cash = 1 person’s only; No $10, $100, $1000, nor $10,000 bill is accepted
Hiroshi Kariya, 800 Kabakov’s wall fragment”, ICA Philadelphia, 1990
1990
“8000 Years Spring, 8000 Years Autumn”, ICA Philadelphia, 1990
1990
Edward J. Sozanski “Contemplating, Creation, Rebirth...It attempts to stimulate
in the observer a higher consciousness akin to a state of grace,..far from an outstanding objective...installation represents a prolonged act of meditation on immortality...the process of making it...is more consequential than the artifacts it produces. It is, in fact its essence... search for communion with a cosmic unity.”
Edward J. Sozanski, The Philadelphia Inquirer, newspaper, 3.18
1990
Robin Rice “Still breathing, still thinking,...Kariya’s work...an ‘ordering’ activity that is being recorded, and that activity is a spiritual end in itself.”
Robin Rice , Philadelphia City Paper, newspaper, 6.22, 1990
1990
Sutra
1989
“Begins and ends” curved stamp, ink, plumb pointing the core stamp, Exit Art,1989
1989
“I-ching chance hexagram, the choice, the chance, the change, the season, the period, the symbol”
1989
“the image, the title, the word”
1989
Kunie Sugiura “the work is entitled ‘Sutra’ . This title refers as searching for the meaning
of existence, and is a study in the concept of infinity..”,
Kunie Sugiura, BT, monthly art magazine, July
1989
Sutra: Origin Sanskrit; Meaning literally thread or string, sacred cord or measuring line, sketch, plan
This work is a telepathic message from Kariya’s higher self written in a single phrase. Coded to the most simple of forms. It focuses on the finite concept of being in recalling the infinite reality of being. It brakes the barrier of time, space, and matter and reveals limitless isolated moments for a universal oneness.
Despite linguistic forms, this writing divulges a pure abstract awareness. inherent within the independent consciousness of time / space/ matter immediately proceeding the present. All is happening at the same “the now is”, but with different level of interpretation, or frequencies, or dimensions. As we are all at the state of learning process for the universal enlightenment of love. Not the fear fabricated factors to control humans.
1989
The work is a composite of three functions:
(1) to affirm the writing a s generative force.
(2) to produce a *ruler to measure the writing.
(3) to recall, on the surface: the form of sutra.
*language verse by which to gauge or describe symbolic forms.
This could be by ruler, structure, materials, system, rather than writing.
1989
3 From the now all proceed
In the now all exist
and to the now all return
2 This is the now, that is the now,
From the now the now has come
The now remains the same
The now subtracted
from the now results in the now
4 The now is here
The now is there
It is near and it is far
It is inside of all this
and it is outside of all this
All beings in the now
and the now in all beings
1 “What is the now ?”
“Whence has the now come ?”
“Where the now going ?”
5 The now is all this, and again
Hiroshi Kariya, Recreation from the text by Upanishad, 1989
1988
“Stone sutra” curving on lime stone, 1988
1982
“One thing in thirty-four words: thirty-four words in one phrase: one phrase in thirty-four changes”
acrylic on drifted wood, 1982
1982
“29 words in 1 phrase: 1 phrase in 29 things: 29 things in 1 work”
acrylic on drifted wood, 1982
1982
“83 Words in one thing: one thing in 83 times; 83 times in one sutra”
acrylic on drifted wood, 1982
I am still writing “the now is”
I am still thinking about it.
1982
“One thing in thirty-four words: thirty-four words in one phrase: one phrase in thirty-four changes”
acrylic on drifted wood, 1982
“29 words in 1 phrase: 1 phrase in 29 things: 29 things in 1 work”
acrylic on drifted wood, 1982
“83 Words in one thing: one thing in 83 times; 83 times in one sutra”
acrylic on drifted wood, 1982
1981
“Water sound instrument”, Gowanus Memorial Art Yard, 1981
1981
John Shell “Talk of Town,....It is called ‘The’ sound”, he told us that the sound is
the meaning of time,...to be experiencing the time is sound...”,
John Shell, The New Yorker magazine, 7.27
1981
John Perreault “gigantic...performance of his ‘The’ sound; this water pool sound
instrument was the most visual thing I had come across yet.”
John Perreault, The Soho News, newspaper, 5.27
1979
Kay Larson “built a pool and amplified the sound of water
dripping into the center plop, plop, plop,...
It was a contemplation piece; you were to focus your attention on
the plop sound and notice that it seemed disconnected from the image of the droplet
...entering into the mood of a work like this gets harder as the years drag on.”
Kay Larson, Voice, weekly newspaper, 10.2
1979
“Meditation”, PS 1 Museum, 1979 (Water pool, sound, light)
1977
“The now is” sutra
1977
One word in two hundred and thirty-four strokes;Two hundred and thirty-four strokes in one work;
One work in two hundred and thirty-four days; Two hundred and thirty-four days in one meaning;
One meaning in Two hundred and thirty-four places; Two hundred and thirty-four places in one thing;
One thing in Two hundred and thirty-four changes; Two hundred and thirty-four changes in one thinking.
“the now is” writing, typed on paper, 1977, Store at: Mizuma Art Gallery
Let The Work Be
“No Change, No Chance, No Choice, Not Here, Not There, No Progression; No Beginning Nor No Ending, No Finite Nor No Infinity, Nor This, Nor That, but with the state of “the now is” writing
“Still”, Type writer with “the now is” writing
contained in glass case, 1977, Structure destroyed.
“the now is” writing on the stone, ink on lime stone, piercing the hole, 1991, Private Collector, Japan
“Writing on the stone as a brush’s traveling the world;
from north pole through the equator to south pole.”
1) The writing begin at a random point continued from left to right traveled geometrically,
become a spiral line. The writing reaches the limit at the edge of stone.
2) The writing continues, by turning the stone. The form of ♾️ guides the direction.
3) The writing ends. The chance point was discovered. The result of this writing
on the stone: The creation of an axis.
4) Piercing the stone axis: begins and ends; front and reverse,
to connect with string for another stone of work.
I am still counting the Brahma days in my single grasp,
beginning with single piece.
I am still writing the Brahma days in my single grasp,
still begin with single day.
1977
“The Is Now”
“Is Now The”
“Now The Is”
“Now Is The”
“Is The Now”
“The Now Is”
1977
“The”
“Now”
“Is”
1977
“Index to focus” Conscious, Point, Focus to What ?
“Phenomenon” Image, Vision, Thought, Message, How to sense ?
“Being” Isness, Suchness, That is, It is, Being Being Being, Continuity?
1977
“That now is”
“I am that I am”
“It is what it is”
1977
“ “
“vision”
“Sence”
“Illusion”
“Real ? It disappears, but close my eyes, it appears”
1977
“is-be”
