Get very, very close to the art at googleartproject
7 October 2010
Joined a day tour to the Champagne region. Came across some police action on the bus
passing Hotel de Ville
heading out of the city
arrived in One Piece after a month-and-a-half-long journey on the seas
Haroshi makes his art pieces recycling old used skateboards. The most important style of Haroshi’s three-dimensional art piece is the wooden mosaic. In order to make a sculpture out of a thin skateboard deck, one must stack many layers. But skate decks are already processed products, and not flat like a piece of wood freshly cut out from a tree. Moreover, skateboards may seem like they’re all in the same shape, but actually, their structure varies according to the factory, brand, and popular skaters’ signature models. With his experience and almost crazy knowledge of skateboards, Haroshi is able to differentiate from thousands of used deck stocks, which deck fits with which when stacked. After the decks are chosen and stacked, they are cut, shaven, and polished with his favorite tools. Also, although one is not able to see from outside, there is a certain metal object that is buried inside his three-dimensional statue. The object is a broken skateboard part that was chosen from his collection of parts that became deteriorated and broke off from skateboards, or got damaged from a failed Big Make attempt. To Haroshi, to set this kind of metal part inside his art piece means to “give soul” to the statue. “Unkei,” a Japanese sculptor of Buddhas who was active in the 12th Century, whose works are most popular even today among the Japanese people; used to set a crystal ball called “Shin-Gachi-Rin (Heart Moon Circle)” in the position of the Buddha’s heart. This would become the soul of the statue. So the fact that Haroshi takes the same steps in his creation may be a natural reflection of his spirit and aesthetic as a Japanese.
~ Extracted from Haroshi.com
I find the Gary the dog sculpture is quite meaningful. It is done for Dennis Busenitz and represents two things. First being Gary following after Dennis Busenitz when he skateboards. Second being the high speed of the dog and the skateboarder, using the broken boards. It’s great to see people putting in thoughts and have such passion for their interest.
Found out about this place from Dannychoo’s blog but the directions to get there weren’t too clear. From Asakusa station, you need to take a train to Takasago and then change a train to get to Shibamata.
Taishakuten Sando which leads to Taishakuten Shrine
dango
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