Year: 2023
Medium: glass, phosphorescent pigment, cast bronze Jacuzzi jet nozzles
Dimensions: 52 x 33 x 24 cm (20 1/2 x 13 x 9 1/2 in.)
Acquired from TARO NASU, 2023
Tajima’s sculpture “Anima” has a distorted organic shape with a hollow structure created by glassblowing. Several holes are drilled in the glass surface, and brass jet bathtub nozzles are attached in various places. “Anima” is a Latin word derived from Animal and Animation, which means breath. Breath signifies life's presence. The glass vessel created by human breath shapes the invisible energy of the exhaled air that flows through and pushes out the glass from the inside. This organic shape is probably a metaphor for our bodies (organs) as the vessels of life. Glass is hard as a material but is defined as a liquid in terms of its molecular structure. As a mesophase between individual and gas, visible and invisible, this transparent hard liquid is a medium that materializes “Anima,” the source of life, as indicated by the breath that goes in and out of our bodies. The metal nozzle is simply a simile for the breath that travels in and out of the vessel, while the phosphorescent pigment is used as a metaphor. The light captured by the phosphorescent pigment applied to the inner glass is emitted as a pale phosphorescence in the dark. For Tajima, the visualization of circulating energy is a consistent theme.
