Year: 2022
Medium: spray acrylic, thermoformed PETG
Dimensions: 133.5 x 103 cm (52 1/2 x 40 1/2 in.)
Acquired from TARO NASU, 2022
The subtitle of this work, “Earhart Light,” may ring a bell for those who are familiar with aviation history. It refers to Amelia Earhart, the first female pilot to complete the incredible achievement of a solo transatlantic flight in 1928. This lighthouse named after her, stands on Howland Island, an isolated island in the Pacific Ocean. In 1937, while en route to this island during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe along the equator, Earhart disappeared. The lighthouse had been built to welcome Earhart’s arrival. Tajima gave subtitles associated with remote islands to works in her “Art d’Ameublement” series. They symbolize hardship and the unknown. For this series, the artist sprayed color onto the underside of box shapes created with thermoformed PETG (polyethylene terephthalate glycol). Tajima uses the terms “Shell” and “Frame,” but it is the very concept of “color” that is enclosed within these transparent shells, and the essence of these works lies in the flights of imagination these colors spark. In overcast conditions, Earheart flew toward an isolated island in the middle of the ocean. In a state of extremes, despair intermingled with hope, what might she have seen amidst those clouds obstructing her vision? Did she perhaps hallucinate light from the lighthouse that was surely there waiting for her? Referencing Eric Satie, Tajima encapsulates vivid, colorful mists as a metaphorical expression of abstract painting “Art d’Ameublement / Furniture Art”, prompting viewers to imagine what they see. This is a work that questions the essence of “Abstract.”
