“Constellation #19” (2017), installation view at Arts Maebashi | photo by Ooki Jingu
From studying the veins of dead leaves as a child to making music using environmental sounds, the Japanese contemporary artist Hiraku Suzuki has always been fascinated with the archaeological language that makes up the world around us. But rather than reconfigure the fragments around him, Suzuki chose to forge his own language as a way of re-understanding his environment. The exploration eventually lead to a series he calls “Constellation.”
“Constellation #23” (2018), installation view at Art Front Gallery | photo by Ooki Jingu
Suzuki first begins by dying his backgrounds in ink or soil to create a darkness that is vast and boundless. Working primarily with silver spray paint and marker, the artist then gives light to his darkness by arranging lines, dots and symbols. And out of the chaos, eventually order emerges. The act of weaving these fragments together creates fictitious constellations that have a calligraphic quality to them.
Suzuki’s work is currently on display at two locations in Japan. You can see his work at Parco Museum Tokyo in a group exhibition titled “Drawings – Plurality” (on view through Feb. 7, 2022) and at Arts Maebashi in Gunma prefecture in a group exhibition titled “Traces of Life” (on view through March 6, 2022). Hiraku Suzuki is also on Instagram.
“Constellation #29” (2019)
“Constellation #41” (2020)
“Constellation #44” (2020)
“Constellation #17” (2017)
