[Audio Guide]
A serrated pattern in alternating colors has been painted onto an assemblage of thick timber. As it is painted thinly enough for the wood grain to be visible, the pigments are like a projected image, without a sense of materiality. The “P. W. P.” in the title is an abbreviation of “Practice by Wood Painting.” In accordance with this phrase Hikosaka uses wood as the support, which has a more robust materiality than canvas. It is also appropriate to call his work “practice,” as this series was produced over a period of time with small changes to shape and design with each work. The artist worked with a large number of studies as preparation, and we get the sense that it was a laborious, time-consuming process. In this way, Hikosaka was resisting the conceptual art that was mainstream at the time—trying to restore a concrete sense of feeling in his process, to the extent of brutal honestly.
