Year: 2008
Medium: acrylic, paper, framed
Dimensions: 31.6 x 31.6 cm (12 1/2 x 12 1/2 in.)
Acquired from SBI ART AUCTION, 2022
This work is from “Direction” series, Nawa’s best-known two-dimensional works so far. There is also the “Moment” series that is related to this work but “Line - Fragment” was created earlier in time. Nawa’s two-dimensional works are characterized by abstaining from the action of “painting” deliberately. As a painter, one would hold a paint brush and begin to face the canvas while moving it as a response to one’s physical movement. However, as a sculptor, Nawa has a different approach from other artists from the very first step. Starting with this work, as well as other Nawa’s paintings, “coloring” involves catching the falling paint from the canvas due to gravity. Similarly, “painting” involves the shifting of the canvas back and forth and side to side, rather than working with a paint brush. This is simply a sculptural act similar to carved statues and cast sculptures, only the media is replaced by paint and canvas. Nawa’s constant focus on the subject is what makes him a sculptor and his constant subversive behavior on the practice of sculpting once again proves himself as a vanguard of contemporary sculptors. Such consistency in attitude can be seen from his early works and including this work as well.
