Layered Landscapes

Capturing the passage of time is nearly impossible. This has been attempted for years and years by all sorts of artists. But, the Japanese artist, Nohuhiro Nakanishi, might have figured out how to do this with his “Layered Drawings” series.

Photographing a scene over a period of time, Nakanishi then laser prints each image and mounts it to acrylic. Small changes are present from frame to frame and when they’re layered atop each other, they portray an undulating landscape.

It’s always a 2-dimensional experience when the viewer stands in front of an image of a photographic landscape. As you’re looking at it, you might experience what the artist is feeling when the photography was taken; but regardless… the viewer is always staring at a flat surface. The 3-dimensional aspects of Nakanishi’s pieces give much more detail and allow the viewer to fully engaged in the scene, proving a much more intense effect!

Nakaniski says of his installations, “We are all subject to the passing of time, yet each of us feels and perceives it in our own way,” says Nakaniski, “Time itself has no shape or boundary and cannot be fixed or grasped. When we look at the photographs in these sculptures, we attempt to fill in the gaps between the individual images. We draw from our physical experiences to fill in missing time and space, both ephemeral and vague. In this series, I attempt to depict time and space as sensations shared by both viewer and artist.”

Perhaps the point is to slow down??

When viewed individually, each frame is quite unremarkable. Put together in a chronological sequence, the end-result is rather striking. The memories which are triggered as we walk through the installation, evoked by the plexiglas series, are desisively masterful in their intent.