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Toshio Sekiji
One night, after reading some newspapers,
Toshio Sekiji tore them into strips and
then poured on natural Japanese lacquer,
which he had used for antique restoration.
He tossed the strips of paper like a salad.
The loose fibers of the paper absorbed the
lacquer, and, when the strips were woven
the result was a lacquer-enhanced tapestry
of almost-symbols, a tapestry that vanished
at the border of meaning. In works like
Neighbors (Reading Between the Lines),
the segments of torn newspaper that ap-
pear on the woven surface of the work are
like the frames of a cartoon, passing over
and under each other. Newspaper stories
lose their beginning and end, and new vi-
sions are revealed.
24ts Neighbors
Israeli newspapers, lacquer
37.125” x 41” x 3”, 1998
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