Gallery Baton presented “Seeding”(2024), the monumental wooden sculpture with own hybrid characters by Yuichi Hirako at Meridians sector of Art Basel Miami Beach 2024.
It tackles complex themes such as humanity, nature, and the environment through a style rich in metaphors and symbols. The boat sculpture offers a metaphorical narrative on current global environmental issues and their potential consequences, expressed in a distinctive and playful aesthetic language. The "boat," a coherent symbol with historical references, hosts a diverse community of life forms dependent on it. Initially, it appears to depict a moment of joyful journey. However, this image soon merges with the indiscriminate afterimages of global news, prompting us to see ourselves implicitly through the lens of others.
The 7m boat sculpture presents a metaphorical narrative about ongoing global environmental issues and its likely aftermath in a unique and playful aesthetic language. The ‘boat,’ a coherent symbol containing historical references, and a diverse community of life forms that rely on it, initially seems to capture a moment of joyful journey. However, it soon combines with the indiscriminate afterimages of global news, leading us to recognize ourselves implicitly through others.
By encompassing paintings, sculptures and installations, Hirako deals with significant issues related to humans and nature, the environment and coexistence, with a unique style full of metaphors, symbols and hybrid figurations. The works reflect his connection to deep ecology. Viewing nature as an organically unified whole from a harmony-oriented Asian perspective, the artist naturally reminds visitors who routinely encounter global environmental issues, that nature is not something to be overcome or pioneered but something to be treated and respected as an equal.
