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Miho
Ogai
March 1 - March 29, 2002
HANA-BI
"This
is what never changes. My family and my friends are in traditional
yukata and a few hours before the fireworks display starts, we take
a place by the river where we can easily see the fireworks. There
are always so many people that we can hardly walk. The smell of
beer and food from street stalls hang over everything. We talk and
wait until the fireworks are set off.
After the sunset,
it starts. The fireworks bloom. The sound pounds. People clap their
hands with loud cheers. In the light from the fireworks, I see the
faces of my family and friends in the light from the fireworks and
their smiles in the darkness. As fireworks melt in the night sky,
sparks fall in an arc, like raindrops along an umbrella. We are
enveloped in our own world.
I attempt to freeze and save my experiences, feelings, and memories
within the glass in my artwork. My fireworks take forms, like umbrellas
occupy space and create my world. In this world, there is an interaction
between viewers underneath the sculpture. Like a word (under one
umbrella) in Japanese, relationship always begin or deepen there.
My installation
suggests a sense of infinity as a completed and a never-ending relationship.
These carefully placed, symmetrical fireworks are subtle, warm,
and bloom like fire flowers.
When I watch a fireworks display in Japan, it is the moment I know
I am actually in my home country. When the fireworks light in the
dark, I see familiar faces in the darkness. The feeling of happiness
that I am home and a warm, a deep impression that I am with my family
and friends is now saved. It will never change."
-Miho Ogai
The Sculpture
Center is dedicated to enhancing our community's appreciation of
sculpture by fostering the careers of emerging sculptors and promotes
the preservation of outdoor sculpture. It is located in University
Circle at 1834 East 123rd Street.
Gallery
hours: Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m to 4:00 p.m., Saturday
12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Free Parking is available.)
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