teamLab, 2013, Animation, 6min 20sec (9:16 x 8)
Nirvana was inspired by the screen paintings; “Birds, Animals, and Flowering Plants”, and “Trees, Flowers, Birds and Animals” by Ito Jakuchu (1716 – 1800). Jakuchu was an early modern Japanese artist active in Kyoto during the Edo Period. Jakuchu has left us with a unique style of painting where the surface is made up of a grid of tens of thousands of squares or “tiles” that are individually coloured. The squares paintings were possibly inspired by the designs for Nishijin (luxury woven traditional fabrics produced in Kyoto), or perhaps they were created to be made into a fabric. The painting appears like a digitally constructed image and reminds us of the method of expression of pixel art. Pixel art was also born from functional reasons, and as a method of expression it is still enjoyed today. Perhaps this is why Jakuchu’s grid painting conveys an instinctive digital feeling.
The grid method of painting presents us with a unique form of colour expression. Squares are painted within squares and in one grid there is a range of colours and tones. At a time before the Impressionist and Pointillist movements, it appears that Jakuchu had an awareness of colour mixing and colour theory.
By using a pixel resolution that is 8 times that of Full High Definition, this animation work expresses an overwhelming amount of visual information. When seen as a whole, the mixture of colour light in human eyes produces colours that shine brightly. When viewed close one can see the detail of the squares within squares. Whilst the squares do not move, the animation space moves and the colours of the squares within the squares changes.
