Chiharu Shiota.

Chiharu Shiota is a figurative contemporary artist who builds installations involving dense webs of wire and thread to produce beautifully formed entrapments of objects.
Shiota's pieces inspired me further in the realm of the project theme and the filtered idea I'd come across of infinity. To me, Shiota's pieces relate to a theme of infinity in that the objects are weighed down by a web forevermore, with no clue of how long they've been there or the reason why they're there in the first place; relating highly to the similar questions we ask about humanity through existentialism. Why are we here? What are we linked to? And how long will we be here?


Shiota being a traditional Japanese artist initially began to produce webbed installations during her visits to Berlin in 1996.
The webbed installations allow the viewer to be immersed in an alternate reality, allowing them to view certain points of its existence in different ways and working from them. Different viewers would have different views of what the webs are supposed to represent, with some people thinking it is 'a journey into the soul'.
Personally I believe there is a slight quality of mystery to the pieces, you're made to feel slightly trapped in the web, immersed in a room of wonder, with only the light of the walls and bulbs struggling to shine through the deep depth of the black.

Although made of wire and material such as string, I think that the lines almost appear to be like scribbles on  a blank page, coming to life, like a swallowing void amongst the object. Perhaps the lines could represent things that retain a more metaphorical value - the things we cannot physically see but we know are there, such as air, wind, water vapour etc. Or perhaps the representation of spirits due to popular Japanese belief of surrounding spirits being present in our atmosphere.
Other thoughts may transpire such as the representation of the objects involved, are they meant to represent other matter such as humankind or more symbolic metaphorical subjects? The beauty is- the artist allows a sense of self immersion and the decision of what the definition of the installation is relies on the viewer alone.

"It would be nice to banish every trace of myself, my looks, my papers, my passport, and even my fingerprints," Shiota has said, "and only create my works in dialogue with the cosmos."

Her work is said to have initially been based on the idea of the unconscious, the idea of captivating memories and withholding knowledge that we will always be stained with. The web idea really enhances in my opinion, the era of mystery that surrounds mortality and the possible realm of infinity. How the planet and life will carry on without us in it.