2019 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season

Whenever comes the season for magnolia to blossom, you can visit the park located on the south of Yangpu Riverside and see the glass boat carrying the blooming magnolia flowers riding the wind and wave on the grassland against a brightening sky. The artist Oscar Oiwa created this artwork, Time Shipper, out of his own interpretation of the metropolitan Shanghai. The prototype of his ship originates from the boats travelled on the Huangpu River a hundred years ago. Oscar chose the glass material particularly for its symbolism which resonates with the towering skyscrapers that rose from the ground through the course of modernization of the city Shanghai. In the boat, dirt excavated from the local ground are used to fill its body and city flower the magnolia are planted within. As time goes on and the work stays, the plant will grow and respond to changes of seasons. The choice of boat type and its material, in the sense of time, corresponds and collides with the dialogue between pre-modernization and modernization, which, in turn, even results in a gesture of stagnation. Likewise, the image of the plant growing inside the boat, and the idea of it also, symbolizes the flow and expansion of time itself. Just as the artist said: “it is a ship that sails from now on to the future.”【1】

So the questions remain. How did Oscar Oiwa observe Shanghai? And why did he decide to create a work such as this that embodies conflict yet brings hope to the people? We may derive an answer from the artist’s past experience to get a further analysis of his intention.

Oscar Oiwa was born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1965. His parents were Japnese immigrants who migrated to Brazil after the World War II and worked at São Paulo since then. As a second generation of Japanese immigrants, he felt living at São Paulo as an outsider ever since he was a kid. Communicating with his parents using Japanese inside their house while alternating to Portuguese when he was outside. At a young age, living in a city with a rather restricted information network such as São Paulo, Oscar devoted his passion to painting. When calling to mind of his childhood, he suddenly realized that not much of his life have changed. He thought it was a good thing that the Brazil he grew up in was little influenced by foreign cultures.【2】After the graduation from high school, he chose to major in Architecture at Universidade de São Paulo. That was the year of 1983, São Paulo was in a state of conflict and confrontation for the young generation. On the one side, people started to carry hope and expectation for the unfolding development of political liberation. On the other side, the overhanging military dictatorship that have governed the city since 1964 consumed the existence of art and culture completely which resulted in a devestated and nearly catastrophic status. For the youth with high hopes, the situation back then decimated any possibility for them to react on their ambitions.

Yet, Oscar Oiwa made observations of his city using his own eyes and reflected his thoughts and feelings onto the canvas. São Paulo was the source of his creative inspirations. For him, it poccesses a unique view of prototypical scenery. The Brazilian culture that received impacts of European, African, Native American and American immigrants cultures became Oscar’s precious “cultural capital” in the future. He once described the influences he felt as: “there, imagination comes from the chaos, facts happen in layers, the absurd becomes normal, and prevailing over it all is a strong influence of the Catholic moral that ‘destiny is guided by God’. Some critics call this cultural combination ‘magic realism’, and it is no question that I was strongly influenced by it.”【3】

In the second year after he moved to Japan when he followed his parents with their new job arrangements, he returned to participate in São Paulo Art Biennial as an artist. In the 11 years that came after that, Oscar stayed in Japan and continued to create works. During which he spent 10 months in a residency program in London. In 2002, Oscar moved to New York and continued his artistic career. Though Architecture was his main focus at school, he found another language that suited him better. Through various expressiosns such as painting, installation, sculpture, Oscar presented to us his observation of all the places he stayed, his migration of self and perception of his identity.

In a sense, it is probably because Oscar was able to extend his special way of communication with São Paulo to that of the world, hence he can project his own observations and fused them with local cultures when he was in different cities building conenctions. Looking at all the public art projects he created around the world, you can spot easily the sentiment Oscar injected into that place through his own unique method.

He once shared his opinion on the public art: “making works on the plaza is very different than doing them in the museums or galleries. Most people who go to museums or galleries are related to art. Putting an artwork in the urban space will attract audience no matter they be elder people or kids. And even people who enjoy and not enjoy art will be able to see it. Although the art festival itself only lasts for a period of time (it has a beginning and an end), the work stays forever. On another thought, the population in the city will grow, new architectures will appear, the number of people who use this park will increase. And art as a force can induce changes in people. Isn’t this a great thing?”【4】

It is not exaggerated to say Oscar’s interpretation of the globalization, or more of a response to it, applied a purer method which was simply stepping on that land and to feel it directly. For him: “we live in a speherical planet. Wherever we go (unless we go to Moon), we are inside of the same sphere that revovles around the sun. We are economically, politically, and culturally divided by countries, but we are just a singular people living together on the same planet.”【5】In a sense, the boat he painted carries the wish of people to break boundaries and establish mutual communications. Just as Oscar was implementing self-qurantine in his New York studio during the COVID-19 crisis, he called on people through the main page on his website: “let’s go on a trip!” It is precisely this kind of willingness and courage to embark on a journey that tells us the kind of empowerment art provides to people.

【1】、【4】https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuLrtEM84Ms
【2】、【3】、【5】Interview for Peripheral ARTeries magazine by curators Josh Ryder and Melissa C. Hilborn, Summer 2016

About Artist

Oscar Oiwa, Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1965, graduated from the Department of Architecture at the University of São Paulo in 1989. After graduating from the Department of Architecture, he worked as an artist at the same time as he worked in an architectural firm in Tokyo. In 2002 moved to New York where actually live and work.

Oscar's work shows his worldly story full of stories on the canvas. With its unique sense of humor and imagination, Oscar traveled to and from São Paulo, Tokyo, and New York. He travels a lot and explores his self-identity rooted in multiculturalism as he moves. He uses detailed depictions and bird's-eye composition to discover social issues from news reports and networks. After careful investigation, he displays them on a huge screen. His works are collected by many museums in Japan and abroad.