PixCell-Deer#24
Kohei Nawa 名和晃平 Japanese
Not on view
This taxidermied deer has been completely transformed through the artist’s use of variably sized “PixCell” beads, a term he invented. PixCell combines the idea of a “pixel,” the smallest unit of a digital image, with that of a “cell.” The Kyoto-based artist covers found objects—including taxidermied animals he finds for sale online—with glass beads and other materials so that their original contours become mesmerizingly distorted, magnified, and reflective. PixCell-Deer#24, perhaps unintentionally, resonates with a type of religious painting known as a Kasuga Deer Mandala. These paintings, many of which were commissioned by Kyoto aristocrats of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, feature a deer—the messenger of Shinto deities closely associated with the Kasuga Shrine in Nara—posed with its head similarly turned to the side and a round sacred mirror on its back.
On view July 24, 2019–October 25, 2020
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
