Wednesday

Living Images: Etsuko Ichikawa’s Ephemeral Eternal

Filed under Artists/Spotlights

Smoke unfurling from an unseen source. A jellyfish-like sea creature bending itself under the waves. A restless spirit caught in a photograph. These are all images that come to mind when looking at the works of Etsuko Ichikawa and images that convinced me there is a definite energy and life in her work. In perusing the pieces in her latest exhibition at the Davidson Contemporary gallery in Seattle one feels a continual flow of movement and energy from one piece to the next. The images are all made using the same basic method but Ichikawa manages to mix different elements and ideas in order to create three very different kinds of art.

All of her works are essentially glass pyrographs—images burned onto wood or paper using heated molten glass. This process is almost as interesting to watch as seeing the pieces themselves. A popular stop at the Davidson Contemporary was a small DVD player on a stand that plays a video created by Ian Lucero of Ichikawa at work. This is a great supplement to the pieces in that it shows the artist’s intense control over her craft. She has to deliberately wrangle fire with nothing but her own breath in order to create powerful images. The idea of breath is also important because it offers a great explanation as to why her pieces seem to be ever moving. Breath is constant within her work. An ever-present bubble of orange glass is necessary for the creation process, the use of her own exhalations burning art onto the page. Continue…