Lot 1682: TETSUYA NOGUCHI

TETSUYA NOGUCHI
(b. 1980)
Isometric exercise
mixed media sculpture
9.8 x 6 x 4.5 cm. (3 7/8 x 2 3/8 x 1 3/4 in.)
Executed in 2006
two seals of the artist (respectively on bottom of left foot & bottom of wooden stand)

Using the historically stoic, heroic samurai as a motif, the artist Tetsuya Noguchi has created a miniature samurai resting on a seat, somewhat reluctantly doing his isometric exercise; his arms only haphazardly press against each other while his face reads boredom. It is as though we have caught the samurai in a particular unguarded moment where he engaged in his random and frivolous activity unbeknown of normal samurai warriors. Noguchi particularly chooses these small humorous and unimaginable moments to implore the viewer to consider characteristics of these 'heroes' we have never acknowledged. He does not seek to replace existing stories and notions of the legendary warriors but merely wants to present an alternative, amusing perspective. Through the use of papier-mache, paint and cloth, Noguchi addresses the perceived 'tough' exterior associated with warriors that hides a potentially hollow and cowardly soul. The figure is then delicately assembled and fitted with fully detachable, accurately replicated armor to match his exquisitely expressive face of heightened realism, thus adeptly expressing the dual existence of samurai in both history and legends.