Hirano Kaoru areosol
text by Miho MORIMOTO

Kaoru HiranoThe material that Hirano Kaoru takes as her artistic medium are none other than ordinary object ("things") that have spent their days among us. Pieces of old clothing, for example, once worn by the artist herself or by someone else, remain permeated with a sense of "having belonged to someone." Warmth. Body contours. Odors and fragrances. The passage of time. Memories. All of these remain inherent in such objects, although sublimated into what can only be understood as vague "signs" of the past. It is these indistinct sighs that draw Hirano's attention. Guided by such hints and reminiscences, her creative technique is to deconstruct the original fabric to reduce it to its constituent warp and weft threads, then reconnect these as they were originally arranged to form the completely new artistic constructions.
This startlingly consuming approach to creative expression is underlain by Hirano's world-view that "all that comprises the world is inevitably transformed and reborn as something else."
While unraveling the threads of a piece of clothing dissolves its former function and brings its life as a garment to an end, reconnecting these as the warp and weft of a new creation gives them a new life. In doing so, the vestiges of the former wearer are carried along and emerge in a new form.
Among Hirano's recent works is the yurt-like structure now hanging from the celling of the Shiseido Gallery's central exhibition space, a piece she created from the threads of a black floral-print sundress that had belonged to a friend. The construction and display of this work allow visitors to walk all around it and even to step inside. The delicate threads, undulating faintly in the room's air conditioning, spin out forms reminiscent of blood vessels or the veins of leaves, lines that trace the flows of life, engendering a space within where visitors can experience both a womb-like peacefulness and a sense of freedom and release.
In the smaller gallery, a set of time cards marking the time Hirano spent creating this work is on display. This exhibit helps visitors experience for themselves the enormous flow of time required for this simple sundress to be dissolved and reborn. Another set of cards recorded the times during the four-day open exhibition when Hirano was working live in the gallery, marking the work as a whole with a kind of "ongoing cell division" effect.
Hirano has said that from now on she intends to take on the challenges offered by materials other than fabric and thread. Believing as she does in "cycles of life," she embraces artistic creation over enormous amounts of time. In an age when information can spread instantly across the globe, her work brings into view the magnificent flow of time over which the "cycles" of the world take place, and reminds us of the fact that we, too, occupy our own small part in that vastly larger scheme.