Sinjin, by Japanese sculptor Zero Higashida, is a seemingly quiet yet extraordinarily complex work of art.  Aesthetically, the work simultaneously possesses both heavily textured and smooth stainless steel surfaces. As Toru Haga, President of Kyoto University of Art and Design comments, “[Higashida’s sculptures] are determined to show their surfaces under the hottest sunshine of the summer or the coldest wintery wind at dusk.”¹ Higashida’s abstract works convey strength in form and shape. Sinjin is part of Higashida’s Messaiah series-the word “Messaiah” as coined by Higashida is comprised of the words “message” and “messiah.”  Spiritual and religious in nature, the works express the artist’s hope for world peace. Higashida states, “There is nothing more important than world peace. I strongly believe that expressing world peace is the only role that art can truly have.”² Additionally, the artist notes, “I think that art can heal and has been healing history. People are able to link heaven and the real world by training their imagination. I would say that an artist is someone who conveys a spiritual message to the real world.”³

Higashida’s view on the world and humankind in large part stems from his childhood and memories of his mother. A survivor of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Higashida’s mother shared her experiences with her son, and it is her memories that have taught him the value of life. Jonathan Goodman has aptly described Higashida’s works: “Higashida’s abstraction removes him from the claim that human activities such as enduring suffering and promoting peace are meant to be expressed in fully human, that is to say figurative, terms. … [His work] involves the presentation of suffering as an abstract entity intended to revisit vulnerability and grief in wholly innocent terms.”⁴

Born in Hiroshima in 1958, Higashida graduated from Nihon University College of Art, Japan in 1984.  He continued his studies at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.  Immediately after receiving his graduate degree in 1986, Higashida relocated to New York City, entering the New York Studio School in 1988.  Higashida’s works have been exhibited in the United States and Japan and his most recent exhibitions include: solo shows at the Robert Steele Gallery, New York, NY in 2005 and 2003; a group exhibition May Peace Prevail on Earth at the Mtoazabu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2004); and a one-person show at the Contemporary Sculpture Center, Tokyo, Japan (1999).

¹Toru Haga. “Praying Sculpture,” in Zero Higashida: Recent Sculpture (New York: Robert Steele Gallery, 15 September-15 October 2005), 5.
²Jonahtan Goodman, “The Weight of Memory,” Sculpture, April 2005, 51.
³Goodman, 49.
⁴Goodman, 48-49.

Sinjin, 2005
stainless steel
69" x 75" x 51"
Courtesy of Robert Steele Gallery, NY
Photo: David Steele

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