Multihall Permanent Exhibition
This section introduces three works from the collection of the Hakone Open-air Museum that all possess a strange feeling. These are: a figure of a giant man, a huge tree and a series of three objects that are difficult to describe.
Together they create a strange space, the viewer feels as if they have entered a mysterious forest, but if they stop and confront the works, they may find new ways of looking at them and make unexpected new discoveries.
Jonathan Borofsky (American)
1942 -
Man with a Heart
1995
fiberglass, paint, light, computer
A red light flashes in the figure’s chest in time with a regular, rhythmic beat. This is the sound of the artist’s own heartbeat and represents the energy of life. The work consists of a combination of a variety of motifs that the artist saw in dreams. Dream number 2457977 in the artist’s dream diary describes how he discovered a red ruby and it is this red ruby that imbues the giant green man with life.
Matta (Roberto Sebastiàn MattaEchaurren) (Chilean / French)
1911 - 2002
Eramen (Our Passionate Love)
1985 - 86
Bronze
This work likens the development of human consciousness to a single tree growing in the ground. It can also be said to represent artist himself, illustrating the way in which he developed through his interactions with numerous other artists. The spread of the branches and leaves has been expressed through the combination of numerous different parts, while the snake, that can be seen hanging down from a crack in the trunk, about to devour a frog, is itself emerging from the mouth of another frog.
Tony Cragg (British)
1949
Atmos
1991
iron
These jar-like objects, with tubes emerging from their surfaces, resemble some kind of laboratory or distillery equipment. The title of the work, Atmos, is an abbreviation of the word atmosphere and these vessels represent devices for purifying the atmosphere.
Through his work, the artist aims to create objects that do not exist in either nature or a world that focuses on function.