A current exhibition in the main upper floor spaces of the New Art Gallery Walsall is of work by the Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota, on show until 30 March.
While there are video pieces and graphic work it consists primarily of two site-specific installations that are powerful and evocative- both giving a curious sense of richly inhabited spaces. One suggests multitudes of absent people, evoked by a cloud of battered and weary suitcases, casting ghostly shadows: the other a thicket of letters- letters of thanks- trapped in a tangle of black wool and collected by the artist as evidence of human interaction of the most affirming kind. But the installations are far from being a cerebral exercise- instead providing immediate and visceral sensation which stays and resonates in the memory.
While there are video pieces and graphic work it consists primarily of two site-specific installations that are powerful and evocative- both giving a curious sense of richly inhabited spaces. One suggests multitudes of absent people, evoked by a cloud of battered and weary suitcases, casting ghostly shadows: the other a thicket of letters- letters of thanks- trapped in a tangle of black wool and collected by the artist as evidence of human interaction of the most affirming kind. But the installations are far from being a cerebral exercise- instead providing immediate and visceral sensation which stays and resonates in the memory.
