On the 11th of October, StolenSpace in London opened a solo show of artist Haroshi. The Japanese artist that built his name and career around his huge love for skateboarding brought his latest work to the British capital in a show simply titled Pain. Influenced by his personal experiences of physical pain, both while skateboarding and while creating art, he wanted to show it as something that induces and encourage creativity and persistence. Looking at his unique practice of recycling old used skateboards, the concept of the show is fully relevant – cutting used boards into small cubes, than gluing them back together in order to create solid raw material, and finally molding that material, is a process that definitely requires both creativity and persistence.
With his newest body of work, we can see that Haroshi is constantly improving and pushing his technique, creating even more impressive works. Using cracked boards that were compressed and then molded, he creates a broken heart, broken fingers, and even broken bones in a concrete leg with a real cast around it. The fact that the cast on that piece was done by his friend who is a real doctor proves how much attention and dedication goes into creating these works. The centerpiece of the show was A Vulture Waits For The Dead, huge 80 kg installation that includes a body of a bird made from recycled boards, concrete claws, and countless used skateboards Haroshi has collected everywhere from USA, Mexico, Japan to UK, arranged as spread wings. The title piece of the show is Agony Into Beauty, a bust sculpture of the artist with an agony of pain expression on his face, and with parts of his skin and body melting of him. Along with these unique works, the artists introduces his latest two editions – a signed skateboard with a graphic showing the fantastic Skateboarder’s Unity piece, and a limited edition Skull giclee print, both available from the gallery. This show will be on view until 3rd of November so make sure you see these incredible works in person if you’re visiting London in that time.
Photos credit: saL.
