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If you grew up playing video games you’ve probably seen pixel art before—although the aesthetic might make more sense if we call it “NES art,” after the Nintendo Entertainment System. At the dawn of the 8-bit era games had low graphical resolutions, and consoles couldn’t process images beyond a certain level of detail. Pixel art (dotto-e, literally “dot pictures” in Japanese) is what happens when you stack those grainy blocks together into images.
“’When pixels are piled together, a completed figure emerges.’ This perceptual riddle is what I’m concerned with right now. I’ve been exploring fields beyond sculpture to try to explain my work.”
So says Ichitarō Suzuki (27), a young Japanese sculptor who works in a style known as “pixel art sculpture” (dotto-e chōkoku.) In Suzuki’s art, the distinctively modern genre of pixel art transcends its era and connects 8-bit style with motifs from Classical sculpture.
In “Monocular Landscape: Gruppo del Laocoonte,” the giant sculpture at the top of this article, Suzuki assembled roughly 10,000 pixels into an low-res simulacrum of Laocoön and His Sons. At two meters tall, the piece is distinguished by its size.
Suzuki’s work interrogates boundaries between image and material and fantasy and reality, co-opting ancient sculptures into a contemporary style and reflecting on the universal emotions aroused by those transformations. The appeal of Suzuki’s art lies in its filtering three-dimensional Western sculpture through a 2D aesthetic, then using that 2D style to reimagine the 3D original.
“Events in the games I grew up playing left a strong impression me, even a physical one,” Suzuki says. “I’ve never seen the real statue of David, but I’ve seen it over and over on the internet or in textbooks, and an image of it has been engraved in my mind. People today have this kind of experience all the time. As virtual reality technologies keep advancing, I think this condition—of ‘I’m not really experiencing this, but I can’t escape the sense that I’ve experienced it’—will keep getting more and more common. In the end, the world will be like the The Matrix. [Laughs.] I feel like the distinction between actual experience and virtual experience is disappearing. That feeling is at the root of my creative process.”(2015)
Connect the Dots, Connect the World
Suzuki began sculpting as a student but felt he had limited talent for traditional sculpture. It was then that he had the idea of fusing his classical training with the 8-bit styles that had appealed to him when he was younger.
“In the environment where I studied there were a lot of artists who radiated what you might call a craftsman’s temperament, and I figured I’d have no chance if I tried to compete with their technical skills. But even though I started trying to think of with new ways of doing sculpture, I never felt like I wanted to throw away the academic, artisanal sensibility I’d been taught, because that was part of my aesthetic too. I created ‘pixel art sculpture’ by recombining the different elements that made sense to me. There are a lot of artists who suffer for a long time figuring out their style and try on all kinds of personas that aren’t who they really are, so I’m glad I figured out what I wanted to do while I was still a student. The next challenge is figuring out how to connect my work with the aesthetics of the contemporary art world.”
As part of his mission to be more involved with contemporary art, Suzuki entered the 2013 “Tokyo Midtown Award” art competition. At 25, he became the contest’s youngest-ever grand prize winner, beating out 1,626 other artists. But is he conscious of wanting to appeal to audiences beyond Japan?
“I am. I’ve often heard people say that foreigners always want Japanese people to create ‘distinctively Japanese’ art. The reality is that foreigners don’t respond to Japanese artists who’ve been influenced by Western art, but with ‘Japanese-style’ otaku culture or anime, or the Superflat art Takashi Murakami advocates, their response is very positive. I see pixel art as part of Japanese otaku culture, as opposed to sculpture, which is Western culture. So combining pixel art directly with sculpture, or mixing high art with otaku elements—well, that seems like a good approach, but I’m not always sure it works. From now on, instead of just sending otaku elements overseas, I think I need to create art that is localized for international audiences. Of course, my Japanese audiences will probably think ‘that’s not real otaku culture,’ but to link my work with the art world, I need to take that chance. It’s fairly common for foreign culture, especially food, to be localized for Japan. I’m trying to convey a young Japanese person’s sensibility, and if I can combine pixel art with Western fine art, I think I’ll have taken a step towards that.”
Hypermediated Sculpture, Virtual Experience
“Right now, if you want to experience sculpture, your only option is to go where the sculpture is. But with the internet developing as far as it has, I’d like to make it possible for people to have a ‘sculpture experience’ without having to go to the sculpture itself. I think we need to change the way people view artworks.”
Suzuki has experimented with several new ways of displaying his sculpture—for example, offering his works through the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.
Likewise, any time he creates a sculpture, Suzuki registers the 3D data used as its blueprint with the web site DMM.make. These registered blueprints become available for purchase; when you order them, they are printed out on a 3D printer and mailed to you. It’s not quite putting your hands on a life-sized sculpture, but at least you can own a miniature. This too could be a new way of appreciating art.
“To popularize new artistic experiences, I’d like to see video games penetrate the art world. Back when ‘art’ just meant painting and sculpture, a new medium called photography emerged and became part of what art is. Later on, moving pictures came into existence, and the medium called ‘video art’ entered the art world. Why shouldn’t games be exhibited in Japanese museums?”
To help connect gaming with fine art, Suzuki has begun selling the 3D data from his sculptures on the Unity game development engine. If this catches on, his pixel sculptures may end up in video games developed by others. Looking forward, it seems clear that pixel art sculpture won’t stay confined to real spaces. It will reappear in digital spaces, and will amuse viewers in innumerable forms.
“Today, games are coming out where the emphasis is on enjoying the process of playing, not just on getting to the end or winning. The experience of playing differs from one player to another, and games create memories and experiences that are unique to each player. This aspect of gameplay is called ‘narrative’—and it’s becoming a keyword for my art, too. When we experience sculpture, our sense of wonder comes from our particular experiences of looking at the work and appreciating it. How can I reproduce that on the web? When I asked myself that question, I thought, ‘why not use game narrative as a method?’ I want to find techniques that bridge the expressive gap between games and sculpture, and I plan to keep experimenting with different concrete methods to achieve that.”
Source: IGNITION
Written by Kentaro Takaoka
Edited by IGNITION Staff
Translated by Michael Craig
