Lot 1355: CHIHARU NISHIZAWA

CHIHARU NISHIZAWA
(B. 1970)
Diorama (Wild Mountain High)
acrylic on canvas, triptych
each: 117 x 72.7 cm. (46 x 28 5/8 in.)
overall: 117 x 218.1 cm. (46 x 85 7/8 in.)
Painted in 2002 (3)

Tokyo, Japan, Gallery Gen, Diorama, 2002.
Tokyo, Japan, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Project N, 21 March-8 June 2003.

Tokyo Gallery, Chiharu Nishizawa, Tokyo, Japan, 2005 (illustrated, p. 10).
Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Chiharu Nishizawa- For Beautiful Human Life, Tokyo, Japan, 2007 (illustrated, p. 62).

Chiharu Nishizawa's work illustrates the gap between external behaviour and internal desires in an economically advanced society where individuals are devoted to gaining acceptance from the larger group. At the same time, there is a sense of emptiness and insignificance in the aloof congregation of miniature men and women in oddly identical attire. In Diorama (Wild Mountain High) (Lot 1355) over a mountainous onsen (hot springs), women engage in arbitrary activities rather than enjoying the normally warm and soothing waters, all the while being watched by a few, guard-like men. As if involuntarily, there is an aura of captivity about the women, reflecting an invisible restriction to engage freely. This scenario is also echoed in It Happens Each Day - 2; & It Happens Each Day - 3 (Lot 1356) though the focus is on the figures and their actions, highlighting Nishizawa's social ridicule of group-think and the lack of independent opinion and choice.
Small, fragile and without emotion, Chiharu Nishizawa's figures are meticulously painted with hard, clear outlines and lack of shadows, which further heightens their artificiality. Because of the absence of distinctive features, accentuating the ignorance of a group mentality, the viewers are invited to judge and investigate the figures from a safe distance, as one would through a diorama. However Nishizawa's addition of a realistic scenario unexpectedly grounds his works in reality and we realize that the actions and emotions of Nishizawa's depicted figures may not differ from the common man or woman, beckoning us to re-examine our values and daily decisions.