Hiroki Niimi
Born 1976, Aichi Prefecture
Much of Hiroki Niimi’s work is presented in the form of installations, a word that is of course originally derived from the verb “to install.” With this approach, artists take their interests in the environment surrounding their works one step further and regard the entire space where it is exhibited as part of the work. Niimi does not normally plan out a narrative, but this time he took on the theme of Icicle Crash, a Pokémon move. The keywords he chose were “two realities”: the endless fascination of glass as a material and the thrill of being present at the site of a Pokémon move. By entering the gallery and peering into the works, visitors may be able to traverse these two experiences. Niimi anticipates that a very Japanese sense of “ mitate ” will intervene.* To enhance the precision of the “vessels” that beckon the senses, he repeatedly polished their surfaces while checking the quality of light contained in the glass. *The Japanese term “ mitate ” refers to an artistic or poetic substitution in which one thing can stand metaphorically for another.
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