KOHEI NAWA (Japan, B. 1975)

Born in Osaka in 1975, Kohei Nawa has gained international attention for his meticulously constructed sculptures. PixCell is a term the artist created to describe his most sought after body of work; it combines the words “pixel” and “cell,” which are fundamental elements in technology and nature. In his sculptures, Nawa treats the two elements as parallel substances, eliminating the opposition of between the virtual and the natural world.

PixCell: Bambi (Lot 104) depicts a fawn crystalized by a multitude of acrylic spheres. The animal is frozen in place, one leg poised in the air and head cocked as if just disturbed by a distant sound. To create his sculptures, the artist purchases taxidermy animals online; in viewing them through a screen, the boundary between the virtual world and reality is blurred. While countless pixels compose the virtual image, they are arranged to represent an object that is real. In response to this experience, Nawa uses the spheres to encapsulate his subject’s body, thus representing the virtual with what is real and tangible. Simultaneously, the spheres replace the flesh and blood of the animal, becoming the new cells of the hybrid creature. Nawa’s choice of subject in Bambi perhaps alludes to Shintoism in which deer are considered messengers to the gods.