Tectonics A solo exhibition by Shinji Ohmaki

With wavy lines floating on transparent cubes and mirror surfaces, light and shadow intertwine in layers, creating a sort of floating and ever-changing material. “Tectonics” probes into the unseen memory, time and traveling history of men and space. Memories about the past were never consolidated but often altered, twisted, and reconstructed over time.The tectonics of inner memory forms the core of this exhibition. 

 Different from the 2013 show “Tree of Life”, in which works from the Echoes series contemplating on objects and time gradually fading away, “Tectonics” composed of works from the Flotage series focuses on the mechanism of time and memory. Employing transparent materials, the dances of light and shadow, reflection and superimposition, Ohmaki’s works poetically uncover the unsettled memory and time.  To the artist, the series is also a new form of Karesansui; he said, “This is my own interpretation and depiction of the nature.  It is not only a tectonics but also a poetic expression.  I always sense the voice or song of the earth when looking at a landscape."

The exhibition commences with two large scaled works inspired by Mt. Fuji and Mt. Kannon, which are mountains of divinity in the collective memories of Japanese and Taiwanese respectively.  Mountains are often regardeded as the entrance and exit to other worlds in traditional Japanese legends. For that reason, in the exhibition, the two pieces are like the doorways where a trip towards the inner structure of time and memory begins.