I’ve recently been introduced to two artists who use large-scale installations to provoke awareness and shift public perspective on current social and environmental crises. They hit a point of synergy in two works that both feature shelters destroyed by water — one directly related to New Orleans and Katrina, and the other sparking the same associations through the archetype of Atlantis. Both artists strive to incite action towards sustainability and social justice with a visual jolt to the system. Takashi Horisaki: A Latex Replica of a NOLA Shotgun House, Post-Katrina When artist Takashi Horisaki left his native Japan, he moved to New Orleans to spend his first three years in America earning an BFA at Loyola University. He left before Katrina ravaged the area, and returned in 2006 to discover “how seriously those of us living outside of the victimized area fail to grasp the reality of the tragedy suffered by New Orleans and the lethargic pace of recovery.” So he decided to help outsiders get a better perspective by creating a sculptural replica of a condemned house in the Lower 9th Ward. This is a continuation of a series Horisaki calls Social Dress (this one being called Social… (more)
(Posted by Sarah Rich in Arts at 7:43 PM)