空 (H50)
空

By producing nude torsos, I would like to express Eros itself, the energy to live and live on, not erotic images.  Our existence continuously faces anxiety, fear and awe to be here and now as long as we live at all.  I always think of “Hito-no-katachi人形” in Japanese, (which word is, having traditional religious meanings, sharply distinct from the western concept of doll,) as the symbolic alter-ego where the life dwells, grows, decays and dies and then reincarnates. In the expression of seeming our daydream, in fact, lies the manifestation of the truth of the inner universe in our mind, which I sincerely hope you will find in my works.

Presenting some mysteriously thought-provoking hints, my white clay figures of human body will work on your inner world as do on mine.  That is why I have been making them. My figures summarize the spiritual universe of mine, who has been barely striving to live through the difficult times, and they mean a lot to me as a small, but great significant, Utopian being.

Main materials:
Kiriko(powder of ground Paulownia wood),  Shofu(a kind of flour), lead piece, wire, cloth, paper, cotton, Acrilan paint, etc.

Making method
Put Shofu into the water of the ratio 1 to 3 in the quantity, warming along with mixing well to make up rather sticky glue. Knead dough of Kiriko(Paulownia-wood-powder) with the above glue and temper them up to be clayey.  Such clayey thing is called Toso(clay of ground Paulownia-wood ).
In case of standing figures, firstly shape foot-base with lead materials, used as balancer to stand up straight without any support, and attach wire to the base building up to the top. Then wind with cloth around the wire, and also paste paper at the part of trunk to gather correct volume, and finally paste up Paulownia-wood clay little by little on the inner body-base of cloth and paper to accomplish the fully figured statue.  In doing this, be very careful not to hasten to make up fully-shaped body, avoiding clayey body cracking. If each drying process is not completely well done, cracks will easily be found here and there.  As for small parts such as fingers or hair, put a small amount of cotton on the wire and strengthen them with glue. To accomplish above process, it takes at least one month in the case of small sized works even if all is going favorably, and it takes no less than three months in the case of rather big ones.

Leave the clayey body until completely dried, then polish it up with sandpaper, and paint Gesso several times.  At the final stage, after painting Gesso, spray Paulownia-wood powder on the surface before Gesso having dried out.  This technique is adopted to prevent the doll’s skin from becoming too much smooth.  Again, paint Gesso, and slightly color the skin with Acrilan paint to put finishing touches on the doll.

Main exhibitions of Hama Isao
1939  born at Shinkyo in Manchuria
1975  Gallery ‘Ginza 3^rd Ave.’ (since then, also held 6 times at the same gallery, including group exhibitions)
1980  Shinjuku-Kinokuniya Gallery (also ‘82, ’85, ’88,’91, ’94, ’97, ’00, ’03, ’06, ’09, ’11)
1982  TSK Exhibition Hall in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture (also 4 times, including group exhibitions)
1983  Gallery Yumi in Hamamatu, Shizuoka Prefecture (also 7 times)
1984  Exhibition “ Dolls begin to talk…” at Matsuya Gallery, at Ginza
       Art Expo in New York
1986  Exhibition of “Fine Art Dolls in Showa era” at National Modern Art Museum
       Exhibition of “Ėcole de Kawasaki”
       Exhibition of “ The Art in Yokohama
1988  Striped House Museum at Roppongi, Tokyo (also ’90, ’93, ’96, ’99, ’02, ’04, ’05, ’08)
1990  Exhibition “ART NOW 90 in Shimane” at Hitohata Department store in Matsue, with two other artists.
1995  “Japanese Dolls as Art works” Exhibition at Ginza Matsuzakaya Department Store held under the sponsorship of Nihon Keizai Shinbun Co. Ltd.
Gallery Paris (also 3 times )
2003  “Contemporary Doll-Art; Molding of Sentiment” Exhibition at National Modern Art Museum
2012  Exhibition at Striped House Museum at Roppongi, Tokyo(scheduled)
 The artist and his works have been picked up and introduced several times in various TV programs of NHK and other Broadcasting companies, and he taught at Kuwasawa Design School, Tokyo Zokei University for 8 years. His essays were serially published in one of the well-known magazines, ”Japan and the Japanese” for 4 years, and are appearing in the “The Bronze Age.  Now he also is a lecturer at Asahi Culture Center Shinjuku.  Some of his works are kept as national property in the National Modern Art Museum, Tokyo.