Jin Hongo

“Geometry of Light, Rhetoric of Sight”

“Seeing is believing”, but seeing is not absolute. As a visual artist I am very curious about this “seeing” and interested in how people see and understand things. I would like to know how I see, recognize and comprehend this world. With this idea I have been using light, mirror, and reflection in my work with the theme of vision. By introducing a few of my works created with the above concept, I hope to give you a glimpse of my idea.

 “Sense of Vision, Sense of Luminous”, is an installation consisting of two tall, mirrored square columns with spotlights inside. The columns rotate slowly in a dark room while projecting light and reflecting each other. At the same time, visual traces of the spotlights are created by the reflection and projection of the two columns on the wall. Shone by the spotlights, the images of the walls and the viewer are also reflected in the mirror. Through the work you realize that you need light to see things, but we don’t see the light itself. We recognize things just from the reflections or shadows of objects. Maybe we do not see the object itself, but just the trace of light around it.

“Shape of Vision” is an object with a mirrored surface placed on a wall. Presented in a dark room, you need to use a flashlight to see the work. Once you shine the flashlight on the object you see the form of your own reflection, and the patterns of reflected light together. The imagery changes dynamically as you move the light. What you see is unique, and your observation changes what you see; you change what you see by seeing.

In “Bright Technology” and “The Wall”, the relationship between the visual and the physical is explored. Even to an illusion, your body reacts because you see and feel the space. “Bright Technology” is a space with twenty mirrored plane faces. Once you step inside and close the door, you see and feel that you are in the middle of infinite images of yourself. The frames inside the room start to glow and make you feel as if you are trapped in a gravity-free space. In “The Wall”, strips of mirrors are arranged in catenary curves. As you walk into the gallery you see and feel the illusionary space between you and the wall. The visual information and the sense of body are strongly connected. At times they work together, making you comprehend the surrounding space in different ways.

I would like my work to give viewers the opportunity to think over how we see things, and perhaps investigate further what we do not see, or what we miss. There are some things we can see in coordination with other perceptions, which I believe are essential and actual.

Edited by Ryoko Sato.