Two side-by-side paintings face the gallery’s front door, awaiting visitors like sentries. They have all the elements that characterize Naotaka Hiro’s “Armor” exhibition, namely colorful swatches and fervid mark-making that expands from a vertical center line. The frequently butterflied compositions as well as abstracted renderings of fingers clue viewers into Hiro’s anatomical inspiration and process.
In the main gallery, visitors are again met by two side-by-side paintings, these nearly floor-to-ceiling on raw, unstretched canvas. Two large circles are cut out of each one. The holes allowed Hiro to insert himself through the canvas, ball it around his upper body and over his head (imagine a canvas dumpling with human legs) and proceed to dye the piece from the inside. Then he came out of the cocoon and worked from what he’d blindly started.
Installation view, Naotaka Hiro “Armor” at The Box, 2021
The artist employed a similar process for the exhibition’s central body of work, six 8 x 7 feet freestanding paintings on plywood. Each piece began laid flat, with short legs attached like on a coffee table. Hiro slid under the “coffee table” and, lying on his back, painted the underside, loosely tracing himself. He often worked with both hands. Then he flipped the piece over and worked sitting and standing on top of it. He then repeated the process until all the binaries blurred. The six paintings are arranged in a horseshoe, with a bronze cast of the artist’s torso (primarily) positioned before them.
Installation view, Naotaka Hiro “Armor” at The Box, 2021
The gallery’s back wall dazzles with ten 58 x 42 inch paintings on wood, focused on parts of the body rather than the whole. One has hand-sized holes cut out, suggesting another blind painting technique. Around the corner, a second bronze torso—this one more skeletal—ushers visitors into a screening room with a video of the artist at work. Beside that is a room of the artist’s sketches.
Installation view, Naotaka Hiro “Armor” at The Box, 2021
“Armor” presents process-oriented work about the body inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic (Hiro contracted COVID early on) and concurrent American socio-political upheaval, including attacks against Asians. The work, however, stands on its own visually and will continue to do so beyond this historic period.
Naotaka Hiro: Armor
May 29-July 24, 2021
All images ourtesy of the artist and The Box LA. Photographs by Fredrik Nilsen Studio.
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