As a hearing-impaired individual, Nakamura has been focusing on exploring auditory and visual experiences, repeatedly questioning the boundaries and limitations of communication through his artistic practice. Nakamura applies the concept of Relational Aesthetics, representing the world he experiences through his works. By juxtaposing viewers’ experience in his artworks, Nakamura explores possibilities beyond the "limits of communication." The artist also brings up the idea of “Cyborg” in his art, conveying his unique worldview shaped by his life experiences.
YOSHIAKI NAKAMURA: Sound Borders
Taipei
2024.07.13 - 08.24
Due to a hearing impairment, Nakamura has relied on faint sounds and lip-reading to communicate with others since childhood. For Nakamura, the concept of sound is first imagined and then associated with words and real images. This time lag creates a unique field, encompassing various uncertainties: the silent world and the sound world, the body and cognition, imagination and reality, names and objects, experience and concepts. It is at the intersection, opposition, erosion, and interaction of these elements that established borders dissolve.
In this solo exhibition, the artist employs several strategies to explore the theme of "borders between hearing and vision": creating scenes that depict the linguistic structures of both audible and silent worlds, using color and portrait variations as metaphors for perception, and observing the loss of identity related to visual and auditory aspects in modern society.
In paintings depicting butterflies flying between the moon and a sea of words, Nakamura conveys the essence of dialogue rooted in the borders of hearing and vision. For the artist, "dialogue" is as uncertain as the constantly changing moon or seas, with butterflies seeming to float in the space between the moon and its oval shadow on the sea. Through this worldview, Nakamura explores the functions of words and sounds and the connections between symbols and sounds.
The series "Seeing the Sound" reflects the perceptual changes the artist experienced after undergoing cochlear implant surgery, which expanded his auditory world. In this series, the expressions of figures change in response to the surrounding sounds and vibrations, causally demonstrating the close relationship between sound and image.
Additionally, Nakamura's recent works predominantly use shades of red and pink, inspired by his imagination of sound: for Nakamura, the pink is a pure sound expression while the presence of red refers to his body and the problem of sound as a result of his pain. The fluctuation in the intensity of these colors symbolically suggests the fluidity of the artist's cyborg identity: in the realm of crossing borders, the artist creates a synesthetic world that continues and transforms the perception of reality.
"Sound Borders" reveals Nakamura's perception of the "borders" between hearing and vision. Borders are obstacles to communication, yet they are also crucial points of contact. Nakamura believes that hearing and vision are not isolated but are closely interactive, and that artistic expression can facilitate this interaction, potentially transcending the "limits of communication" we face daily.
Yoshiaki Nakamura's Sound World and Communicative Possibilities.
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2024.07.13 - 08.24
TAIPEI
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