"The Dreamer", Magdalena Astrid Dahlen.
(polychromatic digital etching, from free hand graphite rendering)
Astrid, (Magdalena Astrid Dahlen), did this graphite rendering free-hand working from an early to
mid 20th C. sculpture strongly lit in the studio. She later repigmented this image on photoshop.
The sculpture from which she worked, see below, was rendered by Yukio Tashiro.
There is an ironic and poignantly relevant synchronicity of art, and events within human history,
epitomized in the story of this drawing by Astrid. Many threads weave together to form its fabric :
The sculpture that Astrid used as her subject in the drawing had
been brought to the Lamp Art Project Studio by project manager, Rory White. The motivations
to bring this
actual sculpture in for use for "still life" work was, at least, twofold :
As discussed on this website, a methodology of "masters’ studies" was offered to the artist/members
as a working option. Many artists worked from paintings or sculptures from the ancient
Mid-East or Africa or by European Old Masters to Moderns.
This dynamic and the subject “masters’ studies” became a diving board from which to develop
technique and expose themselves to the decisions made by these previous artists.
In other words,
the works from art history, whether viewed in books or posters, or actually brought in
to the studio, like the Tashiro sculpture, and other circa 1930’s sculptures and American modernist paintings
, offered both a subject from which to work, and yet more :
As the art project member worked from the variety of historical pieces, a natural observation of aesthetic,
compositional choices made by the original artist impressed themselves on the
Lamp Art Project member. The member could then choose to use, or abandon, such methods as their
taste and personal direction in art continued to evolve.
Yet other ironic aspects were present : Artists in America in the 1930’s had, themselves, gone
through homelessness and migrations due to the Great Depression. They also, like Lamp Art Project
members, quite often received "help" from the federal government in the form of the WPA, Worker’s
Progress Administration, related programs to get the nation’s workforce, including the artists
in public art projects, employed once again.
So here we find a parallel of hardship, oppression, and the receiving of life-sustaining help.
Yet, we find, not just one parallel, but many : Yukio Tashiro, like most of the Japanese-Americans
living on the West Coast during World War II, were forced either to relocate into internment
camps, or, those who were "luckier", were given the alternative to join the military and “prove”
their loyalty, or else return to the camps. Such was the case with Yukio Tashiro.
In fact no actual data could be found on Yukio Tashiro, at least in Rory's efforts, and that of a number of art historians.
There was no data on Yukio Tashiro, in any of the books covering artists active in California OR America
in the early to mid 20th Century period.
Likewise the Smithsonian's Archives on American Art had no record of Yukio Tashiro even in their special
project to gather data on Japanese-American artists of the 20th Century including the "Manzanar" Period.
(Manzanar was one of the relocation, or concentration, camps, used to house the forcibly displaced Japanese-Americans
living on the west coast of America).
Many records of these relocated Japanese-Americans were lost in the devastation effected by
the United States government and allowed by the people, once again, acting out of the ignorance, and cruelty,
(by either action, or inaction), birthed by fear.
(The U.S. Government has since apologized and admitted the horror of the mistake to so oppress its own citizens based
on ethnicity and fear, and has also made financial reparations to the Japanese Americans whose lives were torn to
shreds by the forced relocations).
Only recently did Rory track down information confirming that Yukio Tashiro was a Japanese-Californian
whose life was disrupted by the period of "The Camps",
and subsequently
provided that data to the Smithsonian.
The parallel with the expelled, relocated, herded, and then relocated once more, homeless population
in today's America is clear. While many justified the treatment of the innocent Japanese-Americans at the time
with hindsight the magnitude of the atrocity is clear.
Likewise, one day America will look back upon her choices in how she today chooses to treat the marginalized,
and extremely vulnerable homeless of today.
To see more images of Yukio Tashiro's sculpture click on image above.
TO SEE ANOTHER MASTER STUDY BY ASTRID CLICK BELOW :
To return to Magdalena Astrid Dahlen's Home Page click below:
To return to the Lamp Art Project Homepage click below :
photos, photoshop, text, *webdesign and contruction : rory white copyr.
*excepting the software of the web host, which includes the arched colored
column to left and above. All other work copyr rory white.
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