The sculptress Yuko Hishiyama studied art at the Tokyo National University of Art and Music, and completed her first degree in 1987. In 1989 she obtained her second degree at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Since then she has been presenting one-man shows and participating in group exhibitions in Japan and worldwide.
While studying in Japan, Hishiyama sculpted mainly in stone, but while in the United States she began working with light aluminium mesh and carbonized aluminium mesh on a wire matrix. Without doubt, this lightweight, malleable material had a great effect on her work, because the techniques of sculpting in stone or mesh are totally different. Stone sculpture is created by removing the material from the outside inwards, whereas working in mesh is similar to making pottery, and is made by adding pieces of mesh until the desired form is achieved. Stone sculptures are weighty, while mesh sculptures, however large, retain an airy sense of lightness.
The subjects of Hishiyama's works are mostly people in scenes taken from daily life. In her first solo exhibition, in Tokyo in 1989, she concentrated largely on the individuality of these representations, whereas in her second solo exhibition, in 1991, she dealt mainly with the physical location of the works in their environment.
The sculptures in this exhibition present a calculated conjunction of opposites. Although her sculptures are large, they are light in weight. These fat people seem light because they are completely hollow. They have only a layer of "skin" which allows us to see into or through them. The mesh full of holes is, in fact, the only material linking and separating the interior of the sculpture and its exterior surroundings. Hishiyama suggests that it is possible either to look straight into a person's heart, thoughts, feelings, or that man is joined to the space-time continuum of his natural environment. The roots of this specific attitude to ‘unifying space' are buried deep in the traditional Japanese aesthetic - the ink drawings, architecture, poetry and so on. Hishiyama calls some of her works "A Dream of Colloid Particles". In her opinion, our personal existence is as tiny particles "adhering" to each other. Nonetheless, some of her figures, in particular those which appear to pass through walls or are suspended in the air, defying the laws of gravity, or those depicted without clothing, seem to be attempting to burst the boundaries of the reality in which they are trapped. Their reality is the handiwork of mankind - social norms, the uncontrollable monsters of technology and industry, or the gigantic concrete cities.
Hishiyama's figures convey human emotions, and in this sense are very realistic. Even concealed thoughts and sensations are conveyed in the sculptures, by facial expressions and exaggerated gestures. By means of such hyperbole, the artist emphasizes the emotions displayed in life in the modern world, and the spectator finds it easy to identify with them. Indeed, the sculptures seem so realistic to us that we are surprised that they do not talk to each other when we are not watching. In actual fact, the artist has not tried to depict real people, and the figures are so exaggerated, even grotesque, that they look unreal. Thus, on one hand there is a feeling that the mesh people are "trapped" in daily existence, but on the other hand, are ‘freed' from it. This is especially apparent in the airy, ghost-like figures passing effortlessly through walls, while those situated in the centre seem to be reacting to some revelation.
The silvery metal conveys coolness and artificiality. Conversely, the rounded, fleshy figures emanate a sense of warm humanity, of something natural. "Artifice versus Nature" is what symbolizes the beginning of a new millenium, in a human attempt to preserve nature together with technological and industrial progress. A further contrast of opposites is evident in how Hishiyama's works look. The faces look partly oriental with their slanting eyes, and partly western, especially around the set of the jaw. Some of the sculptures have masculine heads set on feminine bodies. This suggests that Hishiyama's preoccupation is with universal man, neither male nor female, belonging to no specific society or culture. Basic emotions - joy, love, despair - are common to all of us, are universal. Since the figures are stereotypes, we can imbue them with our emotions and sensibilities. Nonetheless, their features and their fingers, depicted with great attention to detail, give the impression that these are individuals.
Hishiyama's figures, as we have said earlier, are exaggerated, grotesque, full of humour. Caricature has a long tradition in Japanese art, not in sculpture, but in the ink drawings and the traditional Japanese prints. The artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), who also drew caricatures, called them "Manga" (distorted or sarcastic pictures). Such caricatures were a form of social criticism. The social criticism which is, perhaps, concealed in Hishiyama's work, is of the Japanese code of behaviour. The exaggerated physical attitudes and gestures of her sculptures do not adhere to the manners and social conduct of the Japanese. For example, while conversing, the Japanese do not gesticulate or move their bodies, because this is not polite. The mesh people of Hishiyama, on the other hand, "move" with abandon. The caricature, based on something we know, exaggerates the most conspicuous characteristics, so that while there is a strong resemblance to reality, the various components of the figures are different. Hishiyama's sculptures suggest this reality, but are also liberated from it. Her works are reinforced by the imagination and associations of the spectators.
By means of her mesh people Hishiyama, with a wink and with compassion, considers life. The more serious we are, the funnier we look; the more tragic we are, the more absurd we appear. Hishiyama's works obviously demonstrate her great technical ability to breathe life into her figures - and a remarkable sensitivity.