Yuichi Hirako - New Now & Design Hong Kong Sunday, November 26, 2023 | Phillips

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  • “I’m interested in the power of nature and subjects I don’t understand. Nature, arbitrarily defined as ‘nature’ is something determined by human standards. The gradual creation of these characters emerged from my desire to focus on this aspect. Most people see nature, like flowers, as beautiful. We perceive these things as beautiful because that’s what we were taught. However, animals think nothing of flowers when they see them. I believe places such as parks are seen as healing because they were created for that very purpose.”
    — Yuichi Hirako


    Brimming with vivid colours and sumptuous vegetation, Lost in Thought 50 is a significant work by the Japanese contemporary artist Yuichi Hirako. Acting as a portal to an alternative reality, the present work transports viewers into an intimate and fantastical forest scene. Compositionally, this also marks as one of the most impressive paintings hailing from the artist’s Lost in Thought series to appear at auction.

     

    Lost in Thought 50 evokes a dreamlike quality where Hirako invites his audience to marvel at the imposing vertical bands of trees that frame the forest clearing. Upon closer observation, these sculpted pillars open up to an otherworldly sanctuary – revealing the artist’s most signature motifs within his creative practice. Taking inspiration from Shintoism and Animism, Hirako’s works often investigate the concept of deep ecology – probing the inextricable link between humans and nature. The present work reflects the idea that one’s living environment should be respected independently of its instrumental benefits for human use.

     

    Detail of the present lot

     

    Depicted in the foreground of the present painting are Hirako’s signature mythological and hybrid characters, commonly referred to as the ‘Tree Man’. Existing as half human and half tree, these figures embody a relaxed state, lazing leisurely and living harmoniously amongst other creatures in the forest. The artist utilises the forest as his central theme as he believes that it is the heart of nature’s circulation system that provides shelter to plants and animals. Furthermore, the forest is considered as a sacred and healing place in traditional Japanese culture. Rendered in bold and meticulous strokes of acrylic paint, the elements illustrated in Hirako’s Lost in Thought 50 encourages deep introspection and invites viewers to reconsider their own relationships with nature and the organisms that surround around us.

     

    Yuichi Hirako’s practice encompasses painting and drawings, as well as sculpture, installation, and sound performance. Born in 1982, Hirako currently lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. Having received his BFA from Wimbledon College of Art in London in 2006, the artist has been honoured with solo exhibitions internationally hosted by KOTARO NUKAGA, Tokyo (2022); Warehouse Gallery, Hong Kong (2021); Gallery Baton, Seoul (2021). His works have also been featured in exhibitions at the Powerlong Museum (2021), Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2010), Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo (2013), and Museum of Modern Art, Gunma (2010). Additionally, his works are currently housed in the collections of the Powerlong Museum, Shanghai; Lisser Art Museum, AkzoNovel Art Foundation, The Netherlands, and the Jean Pigozzi Collection, Switzerland.

     

    Installation view of the artist’s exhibition, Material Imagination and Etiological Narrative: Material, Data, Fantasy at Go For Kogei, 15 September – 29 October 2023
    Courtesy of the artist’s Instagram

     

    • Provenance

      ZERP Galerie, Rotterdam
      Private Collection, Hong Kong
      Acquired from the above by the present owner

    • Artist Biography

      Yuichi Hirako

      Yuichi Hirako (b. 1982) lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. His works focus on issues
      related to the environment and “deep ecology”, which views all organisms as one
      unified existence. His work continually invites viewers to reconsider their own
      relationships with nature and the organisms that live among and around us.
      Hirako’s practice encompasses painting and drawings, as well as sculpture,
      installation, and sound performance.

      Hirako received a BFA from Wimbledon College of Art in London. While he has a solo
      exhibition Mount Mariana (2021) and a group exhibition Cygnus Loop (2019) at
      Gallery Baton, his work has been featured in exhibition in Powerlong Museum
      (2021), Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2010), Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo
      (2013), Museum of Modern Art, Gunma (2010). His works are included in the
      collections of Powerlong Museum in China, Lisser Art Museum, AkzoNovel Art
      Foundation in Netherlands, Jean Pigozzi Collection in Switzerland.

       
      View More Works

24

Lost in Thought 50

signed with the artist's initials and dated 'YH '19' on the reverse
acrylic on canvas
110 x 90.2 cm. (43 1/4 x 35 1/2 in.)
Painted in 2019.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
HK$400,000 - 600,000 
€47,800-71,700
$51,300-76,900

Sold for HK$508,000

Contact Specialist

Angela Tian
Associate Specialist, Head of New Now & Design Sale
20th Century & Contemporary Art, Hong Kong
+852 2318 2058
AngelaTian@phillips.com

New Now & Design

Hong Kong Auction 26 November 2023