Water-soluble wax pastel, ink and red thread on paper

28×38.5 cm. 11×15 1/8 in.

Signed in initials on bottom right
PROVENANCE
Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya
Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the above

Note: A label of Nagoya Kenji Taki Gallery is affixed on the reverse

"For me, throwing thread balls and weaving in midair is akin to a dance of heart and hands in a unique space and time. To me it is a daily exercise in creating my own peaceful world, much like the Zen monks in Japanese temples who create a new dry landscape garden every day."
——Chiharu Shiota

Chiharu Shiota was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1972 and at the young age of 12 decided to pursue spiritual fulfilment by becoming an artist. In 1992, she enrolled in the Faculty of Art at Kyoto Seika University and majored in oil painting. Four years later, Shiota became a student at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg, Germany, and from 1997 to 1998 studied at Braunschweig University of Art under renowned performance art pioneer Marina Abramovic, followed by a period at Berlin University of the Arts where she was taught by Rebecca Horn. These two outstanding female artists led by example but also inspired Shiota.

Since 1993, Shiota has participated in and held more than 300 exhibitions. In 2015, she was chosen as the representative artist for the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, where her installation The Key in the Hand, in which over 50,000 keys were suspended by red wool, gained international recognition. This work had a profound impact and established her as a global artist, so much so that in 2019, Shiota’s exhibition The Soul Trembles held at Mori Art Museum in Tokyo attracted over 660,000 visitors from around the world in 130 days, confirming her leading position in the international world of art.

In the current spring auction, we present four works by Chiharu Shiota completed from 2020-2021, including pieces from her three classic series Connected to the Universe, Endless Line, and State of Being. These works are in the media of paper, canvas and sculpture, showcasing the rich oeuvre of her artistic universe.

Red Thread Like Me, Weaving a Colourful Life

In 2005, at the age of 33 and just three years after getting married, Shiota was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. However, she was not brought low by the threat of death but instead continued to engage in dialogue with her body. When the cancer returned in 2017, she came to an even more profound realization: “Death is not the end, just a new form of life and an integral part of the life cycle.” In the same year, Shiota began her Skin series, deepening and expanding images from the earlier series. The artist created structures that resembled both human figures and the appearance of an infinitely expanding neural network, showcasing a more imposing spiritual world.

The selected Endless Line (Lot 34) piece was completed in 2021 and features a 1.75:1 aspect ratio, with red thread that symbolizes blood and emotional connections. These threads are woven inside and outside the canvas, densely packed in places, loose and disparate in others, the thread itself resembling the arteries of the human body, pulsing with life energy. Interestingly, the central inverted triangle shape mimics the structure of the human torso, with the head leaning forward, arms swaying — one high, one low — and legs bent, one forward the other extended backwards. It creates a human figure that appears to be running and is reminiscent of the human shapes printed from the bodies of models in Yves Klein’s famous work Untitled Anthropometry. In this piece, Shiota transforms the bonds between people, the perception of one’s own body and a refusal to submit to fate into countless intertwined red threads. In Endless Line, every stitch is like blood rushing through the body, making concrete the tenson embodied by this surging energy, while quietly relating to the viewer a surprising fact: blood circulates through the human vascular system in just 20 seconds, completing 4,320 cycles a day, while the total length of blood vessels in the human body is such that they could circle the Earth 2.5 times. In this sense, each body contains a powerful energy field comparable to the existence of the universe. In terms of the personal challenge to transcend the self, Shiota is like the boundless red thread, tirelessly searching for the answer to life.

Looking up at the Stars to Stand More Firmly on the Ground

In 2009, the artist began creating two-dimensional works with thread woven into paper and in 2016 held a solo exhibition in Brazil titled Connected to the Universe, which marked the start of her exploration of microscopic and macroscopic themes.

Connected to the Universe (Lot 32) was completed in 2020, uses the artist’s classic red colour and features six fine threads that originate in the lower-left corner of the canvas, approximating the position of the human heart. These threads connect to six large concentric circles and one small circle that is in the process of forming. Each one resembles the shape of a blooming Japanese buttercup, with layers of petals wrapped around a pistil, striving to open outward in full bloom. This represents the seven emotions and six sensory pleasures of the heart, extending outward from the red threads, wrapping life into a circle and continuing in a never-ending cycle that speaks to the tensions inherent in existence.

A 2021 work of the same name (Lot 33) features green hues, adopting the life colour of plants as a vehicle to express Shiota’s imaginings about the universe and galaxy. At the center of the piece, there are numerous small circles resembling tightly packed cells in the human body, each one with a cell nucleus made up of DNA that continuously propagates. The four red threads emanating from the chest of a human figure magnify the microscopic cell structure in the painting, offering an alternative macro perspective: the stars in the sky, constantly flickering and releasing energy, form a dazzling star belt that slowly flows downwards, forming a dreamlike Milky Way. In addition, green-coloured brushstrokes sweep across the work horizontally, almost as if placing the figure and the stars in the lower-right corner on the same plane. With her feet firmly on the ground, Shiota looks up at the stars, ultimately discovering that she is the universe.

Blowing the Victory Trumpet, Weaving the Dream Mantra

Other than two-dimensional works, Shiota further discusses her thoughts about the “meaning of existence” through three-dimensional installations. In State of Being (Trumpet) (Lot 35), completed in 2021, the artist carefully constructs a three-dimensional frame, woven with dense thread that enwraps an everyday item, exploring the intimate connection between inner emotions and tangible objects.

A trumpet is sealed inside this work using white silk thread, which symbolizes “purity,” imbuing it with the lightness of life. For Shiota, white represents “the initial state of emptiness,” the beginning and the end, signifying that everything is a blank slate, and anything is possible. In this intricate web of white thread, it is like stepping into a dreamlike plane, recalling opportunities and moments from childhood when we might have learned to play or come into contact with musical instruments. The trumpet could have belonged to a retired performer, who after success sealed a lifetime of love inside the instrument, or it might come from childhood and represent an unfulfilled dream. Moreover, even if the initial passion has since faded, new dreams extend infinitely and the memories remain eternal. Through the intricacy of her Asian style, Shiota weaves a personal aesthetic that assails the senses and utilizes the winding thread to connect memories, emotions, dreams, life and death, the cosmos and the meaning of existence.

Price estimate:
HKD 70,000 - 150,000
USD 9,000 - 19,200