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A sweltering afternoon last summer. On a tip from Hiromi I cross the dark tarmac of the Bergamot Station parking lot, enter an art gallery, and find myself in the presence  of greatness.
The artist– Jacob Hashimoto.
The work-a ravishing cascade of cloud white paper shapes flowing from
ceiling to floor like a waterfall frozen by winters icy breath. Viewing
the piece filled me with a deep and profound stillness. In this heroically
scaled assemblage Jacob Hashimoto had tapped into the very rythms of eternity.
Elated and impressed I made it a point to catch his next show, which took
place that spring. Again Jacob successfully explored the sculptural territory
of large scale abstraction, filling the project room with vibrant yellow
columns of paper that glowed like a dream forest in the suns embrace.
Hashimotos' use of Japanese paper gives his work a very strong connection
to the natural world. For indeed the paper is born from the bark of a
living plant, cleansed in the swiftly rinning waters of a winter river,
and finally, in sheet form, dried by wind and sun on boards hewn from
forest wood...But it is what he does with the paper that creates the real
magic.
A quiet man in his late twenties Jacob graciously agreed to discuss his
feelings about washi for this article. Because he was in Phoenix installing
his art in a museum we conducted the following exchange by e-mail.
Q: What are the qualities of Japanese paper that appeal to you as an artist?
A: My work requires that I employ strong, translucent, beautifully colored,
archival papers and, as you know the greatest selection of such papers
are made in Japan.
Q: What affect have these qualities had on your work?
A: The paper has allowed me to increase the density of the small work-overlapping
forms and stacking layers of wood and paper to create more complex patterns
within the pieces color field...Now I am looking forward to using groups
of different papers of the same color in concert with each other-for example
I am working on a group of all white pieces that employ about fifteen
different white papers...an impossible thing to do if you aren't relying
heavily on Japanese papers.
Q: Anything else?
A: As I have used more and more Japanese papers I have found that I am
increasingly drawn to those whose surfaces are more nuanced and inconsistent.
These inconsistencies can be so elegant and surprising...
Having gotten to know Jacob Hashimoto a little from his visits to Hiromi
Paper Int. and our e-mail interview I eagerly anticipated his big summer
2001 show at the Paticia Faure Gallery. In fact I was there as the doors
were unlocked on opening day. Entering the gallery my eyes sought ot the
large scale monochromatic paper sculptures I expected-but they were nowhere
to be seen.
Instead Jacob had filled the entire gallery with a vast, undulating dune
of beige carpet! Whoa-whats going on here? Well what was going on was
a work that invited one to climb around, slide down its gentle inclines,
and generally lighten up in mind and spirit. Jacob Hashimoto had done
what truly great artists often do-confound expectations.
Q: Jacob this work is incredible, but so amazingly different!
A: I'm just working in a couple of different directions. But I always
return to the paper. I love it.
Q: So that'll be what you'll do now? Work with paper?
Jacob Hashimoto flashed a sly, mischievious grin. "Guess you'll just
have to come to the next show to find out."
Note: For further info on Jacob Hashimoto please contact the Patricia
Faure Gallery, 2525 Michigan Ave., B7, Santa Monica, CA 90404. Phone:
310-449-1479
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