未來之光

Hiroshi Kobayashi's paintings of stuffed animals integrate elements of Japanese ukiyo-e (woodcut printing), photography and animation, characterized by the layered pictorial space, dynamics of action, sharp lines and allegorical meaning. Inspired by these mediums the artist takes a digital photograph of a figure, and in an elaborate process manipulates the image to a draft a virtual story. With the aid of a computer, he reduces his subject into shapes and outlines reminiscent of a topographical map. Pouring fluid acrylic paints within these lines onto a prepared canvas, the artist creates an animated vision of floating figures on a smooth surface. Similar to an illusion or a single moment of a dream, these floating toys represent the image of our youth held at the back of our memories, serving as kind reminders of the blissful years of our youth. The monochromatic blue palette of Kobayashi's Luminary of the Future (Lot 1410) reminds us of an old discolored black and white photograph whose aged impression instantly ignites a sense of nostalgia and revives childhood memories. Defying gravity, the stream of animals sashay across our field of vision, moving at his or her own accord in a time warped space. Given the large scale of this work, the viewer feels as though he or she is standing in the very room. The depicted shadows of the stuffed animals shows that the artist is striving to re-create a real world, the changes in lighting and the shades of the shadow allow us to imagine the depth of space but simultaneously negates the depiction of other details. The white background thus acts like the empty background often left in traditional ink paintings of the East; it is at once representative of a space as defined by the shadows but equally a void in its emptiness. Kobayashi effectively creates a new artistic experience through the integration of imagination and reality in the depiction of his subjects.