What do you do with your old newspapers? Obviously, discard them and give them for recycling. However, Atsushi Adachi, a Japanese visual artist, uses them to create incredible miniature replicas of historic artifacts, such as spacesuit worn by Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, iconic battleships and much more.
The website, colossal.com, quotes Adachi, thus, “(It’s) a meditation on memories of our collective memory.” There’s little doubt that his creations do rake up old memories. He chose the newspaper as his medium of art because for him it embodies social values of that time that are ever-changing, under the influence of time and world events.
Adachi, who was born in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, majored in Art and Sculpting from Tokyo Zokei University. He doesn’t blindly use newspapers for his sculpting but reads the clippings to try to understand the thought process of the designers and creators of that time. These clippings include news from the scientific world, and of adventure and war.
On otakumode.com, Adachi states, “I am on a quest to embed memories in ‘things’, as well as in search of those memories.” Why he’s inclined towards defense forces is because since childhood he has been visiting Self-Defense Force and American Armed Forces bases. This had prompted him to make 3D models of what he saw and laid the foundation of what he wanted to do in the future.
Adachi has held solo exhibitions in many galleries, such as Jinen Gallery, Gallery Lower Akihabara, Art Gallery Kagurazaka, and Azabu Juuban Gallery, all in Tokyo, Japan. His latest exhibition, titled ‘Emerging Tokyo’ was held in East Harlem, New York, USA. Besides this, he has participated in many group exhibitions and art fairs. His works also figure in many magazines, such as Art Collector, The Window Magazine, etc.
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