Gestalt
n. [PSYCHOLOGY] an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts; origin 1920s: from the German Gestalt, literally ‘form, shape’
Gestalt
(Heya/Keitai, 1999) is an early work by the installation artist Takashi Ishida
(石田高志, b. 1972). I
first saw it when I acquired Image Forum’s Thinking and Drawing DVD at a screening of Tokyo Loop in early
2007. Ishida’s explorations of shape and
form through animated installations have become increasingly sophisticated and
bold over the years, yet somehow Gestalt is the work that has made the biggest
impression on my subconscious mind. On
sunny days like today, when I see patterns on my wall created by the sunlight
coming into contact with the with the textures of the wall and the patterns of
grain on surfaces of wood, I imagine Ishida’s paint strokes transforming the
walls of this unremarkable room into something quite magical.
The
film opens with a plain wood frame on a non-descript wall. A black line paints itself around the frame,
then bursts free of the confines of the picture frame to create dramatic
patterns of black lines against the white background. Black
lines paint over white, white lines paint over black, and so on until the bold
white on black title card appears reading “部屋/形態 gestalt”
部屋= heya =
room
形態 = keitai
= form/shape
Ishida
introduces us to the room with a shot of part of the old window flecked with
paint and years of grime, but still allowing some amber light into the
room. He then shows us the rough surface
of the wall, focusing in on it bit by bit, the rest of the room left
unfocused. The camera is then placed with the window on
screen right and the wall that will be the central “canvas” for the animation
on screen left.
There
are several different camera set ups in this 7 minute animation. Each one explores shape and form through a
pattern of colouring dark on light, filling in space and emptying it
again. The artist reprises the shape of
the window, his signature swirling lines, and plays with the flickering light,
exploring all the possibilities this deceptively simple space offers the
creative mind. Gestalt was shot over the
course of one year in a Tokyo dormitory.
Each day, Ishida would paint on the wall and photograph it using the
available light from the window. The flowing
lines and play of geometric patterns result in a contemplative piece
that is stylistically reminiscent of early experiments with music and animation
by artists like Norman McLaren and Oskar Fischinger.
At
one point, a lone sphere traverses the wall, recalling the classic work Spheres (Norman
McLaren/ René Jodoin, 1969), which was composed to accompany Glenn Gould playing Bach. J.S. Bach is also a favourite of Ishida, whose later work The Art of the
Fugue (2001) was commissioned by the Aichi Culture Center to commemorate the
250th anniversary of Bach’s passing.
The soundtrack of Gestalt features one of Bach’s Great Eighteen
Choale Preludes, the hauntingly ethereal BWV 659 “Nun, komm’ der Heiden Heiland”
(Come now, Saviour of the heathen) performed on an organ.
Gestalt
can be seen on Thinking and Drawing: