In his installation, reverse of volume RG, Yasuaki Onishi uses the simplest materials – plastic sheeting and black hot glue – to create a monumental, mountainous form that appears to float in space. The process that he calls “casting the invisible” involves draping the plastic sheeting over stacked cardboard boxes, which are then removed to leave only their impressions. This process of “reversing” sculpture is Onishi’s meditation on the nature of the negative space, or void, left behind. It appears to be a suspended, glowing mass whose exact depth is difficult to perceive. Almost like stepping into an inner sanctum or cave-like chamber, the semi translucent plastic sheeting and wispy strands of hot glue envelop the viewer in a fragile, tent like enclosure speckled with inky black marks. Visitors can walk in and out of the contemplative space, observing how the simplest qualities of light, shape, and line change.
© Yasuaki Onishi