The twelve-layered kimono has been sewn.
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2020

When IKEA becomes art.

The colorful paper is beautifully layered, giving the illusion of looking at the twelve-layered kimono worn at the Imperial Court. Although it still functions as a table, I don't want to put anything on the glass top that overlooks the magnificent view.

"Table" is a 35cm square bamboo bedside table that has been transformed into a work of art through the skillful manipulation of paper and thread. A piece of paper core has been cut to fit the width of the board that runs across the legs of the table, and then layers upon layers of colorful paper with various textures are pasted together, like a twelve-layered kimono. The colorful layers of paper are one book, but because of their thickness they also seem to be a collection of the surfaces of several books. Small holes have been drilled into the crosspieces and the boards of the table to thread through, adding a slight fray to the world of straight lines and flat surfaces, expressing the organic element of the book as if it were a parasite on the furniture.

The main motivation for Yasutomo Ota to create the "Book Para-Site" series was his interest in the act of binding books to familiar objects in everyday life, making them parasitic. The author, who is not bound by the value of furniture, went to IKEA to search for materials. The exhibition had already been decided, and IKEA was chosen as a place where materials could be purchased in bulk and all kinds of items could be compared at the same time. Everyday life can become art. This series makes you feel such possibilities.

The exhibition at the "POLA Museum Annex Exhibition 2020" where this work was presented was not simply an orderly display of the works, but rather was based on the idea of making the viewers feel closer to the works. The entire venue was transformed into a "room where book-loving adults live", with every detail carefully crafted to create the feeling that the person in question had been there just moments before. Personas are important in the retail industry, but an exhibition of book art with a fictional persona was unprecedented.

A message from the author about the concept of the Book Para-Site series:

Books and architecture are similar. Books also have things called "doors" and "pillars," and they are also similar in that they are designed with the flow of traffic in mind. A book is smaller than a human being and can be held in the hand, while architecture is larger than a human being and can be entered with the body. Although the size is different, both are the universe.

"If asked what the most important art is, I would answer 'beautiful houses,' and next most importantly 'beautiful books.'" The words of William Morris, who had a great influence on me when I started making book art, also reveal the relationship between books and architecture. "Books" that exist as if they are parasitic on the shape of a building create a new "relationship between books and architecture."   Since 2019, some of the book art I create has become too big to hold in my hands.

The work "Book Para-Site," which was exhibited at the Tokyo Tatemono Yaesu Building in Yaesu, Tokyo from November 2019 as a selected work for the Brillia ART AWARD 2019, was the first time I, having always been conscious of Morris's words, attempted to look at the boundary between "book" and "architecture" on a large scale.

Continued At the "Brillia Culture Spice" exhibition held at the Ueno Royal Museum Gallery in January 2020, I exhibited "Book Para-Site 2 - betwixt boards," a work that followed on from "Book Para-Site" in Yaesu. In the process of creating a work of this size, I made a new discovery that I had not imagined. The feeling of creating a "Book Para-Site," which is clearly larger than a human, is the same as many people would imagine, and the same feeling I had imagined: "building." (※ Although the feeling was as I had imagined, it was more difficult than I had imagined.)

That is what I felt when I was making "Book Para-Site 2 - betwixt boards" and attaching the leather cover. I felt like I was putting a jacket on someone. I spread both my arms as far as I could, grabbed a piece of leather in each hand, and wrapped my arms around the book.

This feeling was fresh to me, and the division between "books" and "architecture," which I had been exploring as the boundaries of changing the sense of scale, felt like a "human" would be inserted between them if I divided them a little more finely. This led to the new Book Para-Site series, which I presented at the "Pola Museum Annex Exhibition 2020." And, taking this opportunity to add, in 2016, I drew a concept for a work called "Book Parasite," in which a book is parasitized on furniture, in my sketchbook. I find it interesting that "Book Parasite," which started out as a sense of scale furniture, was realized as architecture three years later, as an exhibition stand four years later, and then as furniture again in this exhibition, even though it is about me.

source:March 12, 2020 "POLA Museum Annex Exhibition 2020" - Yasutomo Ota's Book Arts Journey (2)From [OTABOOKARTS BLOG]