This is the second presentation which focuses on the work of Tom Sachs, and his exhibition at the Noguchi Museum in 2016

2. This will be the only time we watch these videos as a class, to
attend, you’ll need to:
• Sign up
– Help greet visitors downstairs (extra credit) (2:40-3:10pm)
– Help move chairs and setup the theater 2:30-3pm
– Help clean up afterwards (4-4:15pm)
SEE THE VIDEOS
HERE!
https://www.nps.go
v/gegr/learn/photos
multimedia/multim
edia.htm

3. • Kenny: So this OTHER artist is
covering up noguchi’s work?? It
seems disrespectful.
• Rasha: Cultural appropriation is
almost always negative…this
COULD be viewed in this way. Is
this artist honoring Noguchi’s
work??
• Ruhith: This could startle other
visitors.
• Tots: It’s like a HUGE
JUXTAPOSITION, it’s like the
crates people haul around…

4. • ARDI: Looks like props for a movie
• Tina: Noguchi’s work shows natural
objects and these other things are
Incompatible…they’re modern and
“processed.”
• Zen: Noguchi’s work is more
natural….these other ones don’t seem like
anyone took their time to make them.
They’re like those traffic control barriers.
• Arvin: this bothers me. Keep it the same.
Don’t change it. It doesn’t seem related to
Noguchi’s work…and I’m not sure if
noguchi would approve!
• Vicky: This doesn’t fit in!! It looks too
“modern”
– kozak: but noguchi’s work is MODERN by
definition!
–  But this is too contemporary.

5. Among the large stone sculptures by
Isamu Noguchi in the Museum’s
indoor/outdoor galleries, Artist Tom
Sachs has set a tea house in a garden
accessorized with variations on
lanterns, gates, a wash basin, a
plywood airplane lavatory, a koi pond,
an ultra HD video wall with the sublime
hyper-presence of Mt. Fuji, a bronze
bonsai made of over 3,600 individually
welded parts, and other objects of use
and contemplation. Sachs has also
produced a complete alternative
material culture of Tea—from bowls
and ladles, scroll paintings and vases,
to a motorized tea whisk, a shot clock,
and an electronic brazier.

6. TOM SACHS was born in 1966 in New York
City. He attended Bennington College in
Vermont and studied Architecture before
becoming a full time artist.
He is a sculptor, probably best known for
his elaborate recreations of various
Modern icons, all of them masterpieces of
engineering and design of one kind or
another.
A lot has been made of the conceptual
underpinnings of Sach’s work, how he
samples capitalist culture, remixing,
dubbing and spitting it back out again, so
that the results are transformed and
transforming. Equally, if not more
important, is his total embrace of
"showing his work." All the steps that led
up to the end result are always on display.

7. On a practical level, this means that all seams,
joints, screws or for that matter anything holding
stuff together is left exposed. Nothing is erased,
sanded away, or rendered invisible.
On a more philosophical level, this means that
nothing Sachs makes is ever finished. Like any
good engineering project, everything can always
be stripped down, stripped out, redesigned and
improved.

8. Bonsai
Bronze casts of common bathroom items
2016

9. Bonsai
Bronze casts of common bathroom items
2016

10. Bonsai
Bronze casts of common bathroom items
2016

11. Bonsai
Bronze casts of common bathroom items
2016

12. Ishidoro
Bronze
2015

13. Ishidoro
Bronze
2015

14. Ishidoro
Bronze
2015

15. Tsukubai
Mixed Media
2015

16. Tsukubai
Mixed Media
2015

17. Tsukubai
Mixed Media
2015

18. Pond Berm
Plywood, Latex paint, Steel hardware, Carp, Koi
2016

19. Pond Berm
Plywood, Latex paint, Steel hardware, Carp, Koi
2016

20. Kabuto
Helmet, paracord, foamcore, fiberglass, epoxy
2015

21. Kabuto
Helmet, paracord, foamcore, fiberglass, epoxy
2015

22. Initial Responses….
Tots: It’s cool. I mean it IS cultural appropriation though. It’s like
when a tourist goes to a foreign country and participates…Sachs is
giving us that opportunity.
Kenny: TOTES AGREE WITH TOTS.
Ny: At first I was kind of against the idea of having another artist
alongside Noguchi…but the more I see, the more I think it fits in.
Sachs helps you learn about Japanese culture more so you can
appreciate Noguchi’s work more.
JoJo: I like the little details he puts into his pieces, like in Ishidoro, the
fact that it’s made of these common objects. Or the fact that he’s
using REAL koi. It makes it more interesting.
Gissell: The Bonsai tree needs to be maintained in a similar way that
we need to maintain ourselves.
.
.

23. Initial Responses….
Arvin: He’s making the audience think beyond what they already know
about Japanese culture…to imagine the materials these objects are
made of….it’s not just what it LITERALLY is.
Guzzy: Brand name things have a certain type of value to them. But
When it comes to ceremonial (or religious things) they have more
meaning to them.
Zenzile: People won’t take it as if he’s trying to STEAL the culture or
traditions…it seems like he’s done his research, and changed the
material. Also, since you can actually perform the tea ceremony…you
can engage AND be an audience.
Nyle: The materials reference Japanese culture but they also reference
stuff Americans may use in their daily life.
Amina: He makes the audience a part of this work. Since Noguchi is not
alive, he can’t make new work that is interactive…but Sachs is able to do
that.

24. A bit of History about Tea ceremonies…

25. The exhibition centers on
an immersive
environment
representing Sachs’
distinctive reworking of
chanoyu, or traditional
Japanese tea
ceremony—including the
myriad elements
essential to that
intensely ritualistic
universe.

26. Tea House
Mixed media
2011-2012

27. The tradition of serving powdered
green tea was introduced to Japan
from China in the twelfth century.
Japanese Buddhist priests who traveled
to China to study religious scriptures
returned to their homeland having
acquired new customs. Zen Buddhist
tea masters passed down these ideas
for centuries before they were passed
to Tea Master Sen Rikyu (1521–1591
CE), who established the type of tea
ceremony that we know of today.
A bit of History about Tea ceremonies…
Sen No Rikyu
a portrait by Tōhaku Hasegawa

28. A painted scroll that would typically pay homage to
the tea master Sen no Rikyu instead features
Muhammad Ali, surrounded by his famed words, in
Japanese, “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”

29. “I appreciate his desire to
appear not to take himself
too seriously even though
he’s a very serious artist,”
said Eugenie Tsai, the
Brooklyn Museum curator
currently working with Mr.
Sachs’s boombox show in
Brooklyn “So much
contemporary art can take
itself too seriously,” she said.
“It’s refreshing to find art
that makes you smile,
appreciate the ingenuity of
the maker and look at life in
a different way.”

30. “But while Mr. Sachs shares with
Noguchi the impulse to connect the
traditional East and the modern West,
his work is in conspicuous ways the
opposite of Noguchi’s. Mr. Sachs
typically cobbles together recognizable
objects like sneakers, boomboxes and
architectural models from plywood,
foam core, glue, tape and myriad sorts
of hardware. His comically inelegant
works look as if they were created by a
manically inventive but not especially
skilled handyman in his basement
workshop. Noguchi’s sculpture, on the
other hand, was invariably suave and
formally unified, with a particular
predilection for natural forms, textures
and materials.” Ken Johnson, NY Times

31. What would Noguchi have
thought about all this? Perhaps
he’d have been appalled by Mr.
Sachs’s ham-handed bricolage.
But he might just as well have
appreciated Mr. Sachs’s
imaginative mix of tradition and
DIY futurism. In an exhibition
guide essay, the museum’s senior
curator Dakin Hart persuasively
argues that “the premise of
Noguchi’s life and work was the
idea that the truest form of
respect you can show another
culture, traditional or otherwise,
is participation: deep
engagement, followed by creative
adaptation.” Ken Johnson, NY Times

32. Sen Rikyu’s guiding principles of
Chanoyu are…
• Harmony (Wa): harmony
between guests, hosts, nature,
and setting
• Respect (Kei): sincerity toward
another, regardless of rank or
status
• Purity (Sei): to spiritually
cleanse oneself—to be of pure
heart and mind
• Tranquility (Jaku): inner peace
that results from obtaining the
first three principles; this inner
peace allows one to truly share
A bit of History about Tea ceremonies…

33. This sharing of a single bowl of tea
represents the unity of hearts and
minds among the participants. In
Chanoyu, there are many symbols of
respect. Particularly important is the
manner in which a tea bowl is
presented and received. The host
determines which side of the bowl is
most beautiful. This side is referred to
as the “front” of the bowl. As a bowl
is presented to a participant, the front
always faces the recipient. Similarly,
when tea is consumed by a guest, the
bowl is rotated so that its most
beautiful side is facing the host, and
so that the guest avoids drinking from
its front. This practice reflects the
spirit and principles of a tea gathering.
A bit of History about Tea ceremonies…

34. Tae: in Japan there’s a lot of customs that relate to respecting others
and places...and this is more about the PROCESS than the END
RESULT. (Like in Tom Sachs work! OMG OMG! I just got chills!)
Kenny: The whole point is to show respect! By performing this
custom it creates a broader sense of respect by second nature.
Kevin: This is all about FORMALITY, every country has formalities…like
in the USA, we hold doors for people when walking into rooms…
 When we do the pledge of allegiance. Moments of silence
for national tragedies.
 flags at half-mass when someone historically important
dies.
If you were to go to serene or peaceful places (churches,
gov’t buildings, school, memorials)) , you can’t be all crazy and stuff.
You’re expected to be formal.
Dinner table arrangement!! Politeness!
.
WHY DO THIS?

35. Ray: It’s important to share your spirit with someone else and to
appreciate their energy as they pass it to you.
Tina: This is a CULTURAL practice, not so much about just drinking tea
because you like the taste. This is special it unites you with the other person
through your emotions.
Jakara: It’s like self discipline. When I drink tea I’m not going fold a napkin in a
certain way or “cleanse” the bowl….
Guzzy: The reason to do this is to have a contemplative moment, a meditative
experience. A moment for you to just CHILL.
When do we have time to contemplate?
 Shower, Train, the Ferry ride, WHEN I AM MAKING DOODY,
listening to music, car rides, in the dark in my room, that moment before you
fall asleep but you’re not awake, a long walk in the park, EVERY WEDNESDAY
when new comics come out, churches, temples, etc. Stargazing, hiking.
Nawal: I agree with TINA! It’s very symbolic of Japanese culture. Noguchi
connected so much with the spirituality of things (in nature) and not just the
materialistic side of the world.
WHAT DO YOU THINK???

36. “You can find out how
to do something and
then do it or do
something and find
out what you did.”
-Isamu Noguchi

37. Practice with subtractive sculpture
• Thurs/Fri: Practice with Balsa foam
– Balsa foam is aplastic foam that carves like
butter and paints like wood. It's ideal for
sculpting and model making because it can
be carved, chiseled, sawed, textured, or
embossed with sharp-edged detail.
• When we’re back from break:
Prompt: Create an ABSTRACT work of
art that references nature using plaster.
“You can find out how to do something
and then do it or do something and find
out what you did.”
-Isamu Noguchi