Media, Events, Experiments
Exhibitions
Circuit Board Etching
Jul 2nd
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Revisiting an old project created in 2003…
Etching circuit boards as a form of creative expression? I made a series of resists by combining 19th century botanical illustrations scanned from antique hardcovers with circuit-like shapes created in Photoshop. The images were used as light resists in the creation of a photoresist, which was in turn used as an etching resist. The first part of the process is similar to traditional photography, performed in a dark room with developer and stop bath chemicals.
The series, titled ‘Circuitree’ was displayed at the Nickle Gallery in Calgary, Canada.
The relationships between the dualities of nature and technology; science and art; creative processes and analytical processes were investigated.
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Digital Drawings etched on circuit board.
Average size 6” x 6”, series of 8
2003
I would like to once again use this technique as a creative process, with a more technological final work in mind. I would like to see the circuits actually able to perform a task beyond a being a decorative and contemplative form.
Pixel Paintings
Jun 5th
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I just found a couple digital images of paintings I did back in my university days.
A discussion of technologically mediated communication, the paintings depict digital communication systems overlayed on pixelated imagery of found webcam screenshots. The overlay style, painted in a definitely analog method, reference the digital layer opacity workflow found in applications such as Photoshop.
It cannot be denied that communication methods have changed as a result of technology. Just over a century ago, communication across oceans took months, and now, real time HD video can stream. Speaking over the phone is different from speaking through connected computers. Video chat and web cam communication has changed our conceptual size of the real world, bringing people closer together, yet there is an increased psychological distance between humans emerging related to digital mediation. Do the benefits outweigh the detriments? Only time will tell.
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Tokyo Women’s Bunka University Fashion Show
Jul 7th
Hfour produced the video for the annual Tokyo Women’s Cultural University fashion show which was held on June 6th 2009 on the Kokubunji campus. The full edit is just over an hour long and is unavailable for public release. This version is approximately twenty minutes shorter but still contains the show in its entirety.
7 For All Mankind Store Opening
Mar 30th
Hfour worked with Bidon and Six Inch to produce a video installation at the party for the 7 for all Mankind store opening in Daikanyama, Tokyo. Three projectors were used to create a seamless image on the ceiling, presenting content following the theme: ‘looking up to nature’.
35 Million Stories
Jan 27th
Hfour is proud to work with Five By Fifty, an Asian Consumer Intelligence company (trend spotting company) to produce a video for the Tokyo installation at the 2009 Pret-a-Porter Salon in Paris.
Prêt a Porter Paris is the global fashion industry’s most important event. The 65,000-square-meter exhibition showcases more than 1,500 global fashion brands, runway shows and art installations and receives 45,000 visitors over four days.
Around 500 square meters of Prêt a Porter Paris is dedicated to an inspirational trends area called Explosion de Modes, a space displaying colors, fabrics and ideas.
The theme for Autumn-Winter 2010 is “New Generation Cities”, with Tokyo, Rio, Stockholm and Los Angeles as well as Paris selected by Explosion de Modes curator Alexandra Senes as the world’s new wave of urban influencers.
Five by Fifty will recreate Tokyo’s pulse and spirit to convey current consumer and societal trends within the parameters of a 80-square-meter space. Utilizing the five senses to create a contextual experience, Five by Fifty’s trend director Nicole Fall has assembled a cast of collaborators to demonstrate the inspirational diversity and contradictions of the world’s most populous city.
The roll call includes musicians Yasuharu Ohkouchi and Jeff Wichmann, film creator Stuart Ward (Hfour), and scent creator Kaori Oishi.
35 Million Stories:
There are millions of interacting stories in Tokyo. Filming them all would be impossible, yet filming just one would do a disservice to the millions of other unique stories which would be ignored in the process. With such a regard, I created a film which focuses on slices of Tokyo life, snippets of the scene in totality. I investigate the individual as a part of a greater form, and the greater form being composed of seemingly insignificant pieces. Without the individual, Tokyo would not exist, yet without the greater form, the individual would not have a purpose.
I have found people to be most alone in Tokyo when in large crowds.
Thought Projector at the ICC
Dec 7th
If anyone is interested in the intersection of Art and Technology, they should hit up the NTT InterCommunication Center (ICC) next to Hatsudai station, near Shinjuku, Tokyo. There is a show called Light InSight, which features several installations which discuss light in Art. It included a machine which photographs retinas, a sonochemical observatory, luminescent walls, and interactive smoke tunnels.
The Open space featured more contemporary works of Art including a very exciting anechoic chamber, and a lot of interactivity in nearly every work.
NTT ICC
My retina image from the ICC
The hidden nature of beauty.
Sep 3rd
A series 8 of paintings on 61x61cm plywood boards was completed for a group exhibition. The subject matter is magazine models, painted in oil on untreated hardwood ply and then sealed. Their message raises questions about beauty and nature. Natural beauty is found everywhere, it is possible to see in many pristine locations which haven’t been adjusted by humans. Natural beauty is also found in human faces: models are selected by their looks, because it is their appearance that is attractive to viewers which helps sell products. However, their appearance is augmented with make-up and computers to improve the overall appeal and beauty. The same augmentative activities are performed with natural materials and objects. The natural beauty of wood grain does not appear without the help of humans and tools. The plywood surfaces of the paintings are a form of ‘constructed nature’: they are perceived to be natural, but do not appear in nature. Other examples include the Nautilus shell (the spiral aesthetic is invisible until the shell is cut), trans-axially cut fruit and polished stones.
Wet Paint Redux
Aug 28th
Hfour did a live painting show at Ever on the 29th of May 2008. Musical accompaniment by Esie and a traditional flute player.
Here is the write-up from the flyer:
Hfour explores the transience and ephemerality of life using paint as a metaphor. By intentionally repurposing traditional artists’ materials, he expresses a paradigm shift which suggests the awareness of the impermanent nature of contemporary society (disposable). Hfour channels primal expressions incorporated with reactive gestures to perform a painting without termination.
A collaborative performance with Flyflyfly reinforces the convergence of technology and human instinct; the postmodern city and the condition of society.
Two pieces were performed, both canvases were destroyed after the show.
Also included are photographs from the first live painting show performed in 2002 in Canada.
Exivision
Aug 23rd
A friend of mine emailed me to express his wish to attend my Art show and misspelled the word exhibition as exivision. I was impressed with his new word and named the show after it. The longer title was “Thunder Dragons and Flying Tigers: Visions of Bhutan.
Exivision toured through three exhibition spaces, two in Tokyo (2006 and 2007) and one in Kyoto (2007).
P1X3L5
Aug 22nd
Digital photographs from outward journeys, Digital prints from inward journeys.
December 10th-20th 2005, at Art Cocktail in Nakatsu, Osaka, Japan.
