Zen and the Art of Nothingness

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Junichiro Iwase became fascinated by the Zen Buddhist idea of nothingness – the point of transcendence – and wondered how to represent it in art. He settled on the idea of creating an air bubble within a plastic cylinder filled with coloured water. Everything except the bubble, he says, is part of the work’s support structure, not the actual art.

Iwase’s show, Mu: Beyond Duality, is on view at Art Beatus in Vancouver until Nov. 10. As Iwase understands it, mu reflects the artificiality inherent in the binary opposites we use to understand our world and recognizes there is no absolute right or wrong, good or bad. Both polarities depend on context, where and when something happened, for instance, as well as the histories involved.

Some of Iwase’s works are built using a plastic frame that resembles a wall-mounted clock. The clocks don’t tell time, of course – they always reflect the present moment. Other works are made with long tubes, sometimes covered with coloured bands. He often suspends these with fishing line so they appear to float in mid-air. Iwase tries to centre the air bubble in the middle of each tube as it represents the place of greatest stability. His work is minimal and precise. It looks almost futuristic but also bring to mind ideas of telescopes, carpenter’s levels and martial arts weaponry.

Iwase, who was born in Japan but came to Canada with his family as an infant, is not a Buddhist. But he comes from a creative family, including his mother, a fashion designer, and his father, a traditional cabinetmaker. Iwase apprenticed with his father, but says he prefers to explore ideas. “I wasn’t really interested in things that were useful, like furniture,” he says. “ I was more interested in useless things.” He has spent time in the United States, where he studied metal casting and hung out with sculptors, and in Japan, where he was exposed to that country’s avant-garde artists.

Iwase, who has exhibited at art fairs in Japan, Korea and China, also creates work with eggshells, using them to explore notions of vulnerability and fragility, as well as interior and exterior spaces. He begins by donating eggs to food shelters and then collects and cleans the shells. He has used the shells in many ways, including encrusting them on tree branches, much like barnacles, and even fashioning them into women’s dresses.

Art Beatus

610-808 Nelson St, Vancouver, British Columbia V6Z 2H2

604-688-2633

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