Nerhol is an artist duo that has attracted attention both in Japan and overseas for their innovative approach to carving layered photographs.
In 2024, following an exhibition at Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, his first large-scale solo exhibition at a museum will be held at the Chiba City Museum of Art, continuing his successful run.
ART PREVIEW TOKYO explores the appeal of Nerhol's "photo sculptures," who has taken a new step following his solo exhibition "Nerhol: Rolling Up the Horizon" at the Chiba City Museum of Art (September 2024th to November 9th, 6).

　Nerhol is a unique artist duo formed in 2007 by graphic designer Yoshihisa Tanaka and sculptor Ryuta Iida.

　Tanaka, who works in graphic design using paper and flat compositions, and Iida, a sculptor who creates works that use paper such as books and newspapers to explore the framework of language from an outside perspective. The works are born from the daily dialogue between the two.
　He attracted much attention with his portrait series Misunderstanding Focus, which was released in 3, in which he photographed a person for three minutes, printed out 200 photos, and layered and sculpted them.

　Nerhol's works include some wonderful pieces in genres other than photo-sculpture, such as "multiple-roadside tree" (2016) and "Quartz Tree" (2022), but this time we will focus on Nerhol's "photo-sculptures," in particular his unique method of "carving" photographs.

Dissolving Photographic Sculptures- Melting Photo Sculpture
　Art critic Toshiharu Ito describes Nerhol's work as "melting photo-sculptures" as follows:　
　"What makes Nerhol unique among artists who emphasize materiality in the digital photography era is his commitment to the concept of 'sculpture.' Or you could say that he focuses on the relationship between 'sculpture and photography,' incorporating time layers and mobility." (Ito Toshiharu, "Nerhol 2007-2024")

"Photo engraving": A technique of "engraving a series of consecutive photographs"
　After four years of searching since his first solo exhibition in 2008, Nerhol finally arrived at the technique of "sculpting a stack of sequential photographs." The "Circle" series, created in 2011, is a work in which 200 sheets of paper printed with black circles that shrink slightly from the front to the back are carved into various patterns.
　This was an opportunity for Nerhol to "discover a system of time in the movement of the images that arises from carving a continuous bundle of images, and to recognize the unique time axis that gives birth to the work" (Nerhol, "Nerhol 2007-2024").

　The photo shows "Circle" seen from the side. A stack of 200 printed sheets is carved into it to create a three-dimensional effect.

　This Circle series has 51 different carved patterns, and each pattern has a paired piece with the concave and convex sides reversed, making it a series of 102 pieces in total.

A portrait piece that lasts for 3 minutes 　
　The next series, released in 2012, was Misunderstanding Focus, a series of portraits that is renowned as one of Nerhol's representative works.　The work was created using 200 photos taken over three minutes of people they had met in Japan as models. The photos were printed on A4 size paper and stacked from front to back in a way that time seemed to flow, then carved into the wall with a cutter.

　By sculpting a stack of sequential photographs, "the multiple times that coexist in one work appear as shifts in the images, and as the layered flat surface continues to be carved, it begins to take on a three-dimensional undulation, ultimately resulting in a form that can be appreciated as a three-dimensional object" (Nerhol, "Nerhol 2007-2024")

　Nerhol's Iida had this to say about engraving the layered photographs:

　"You never know what kind of movement will emerge in a piece until you actually carve it. It's important to consider how you respond to each result as it comes along. I decide the balance of size at the beginning, but it never stays that way. I continue to consider how to respond to situations that arise as I carve. It feels like the piece is complete when that is finished." (Bijutsu Techo Interview）

　The photo shows the production scene of the Tenjin series of works at Nerhol's "Tenjin, Mume, Nusa" exhibition held at Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine in the first half of 2024. Layered photographs are being carved with a chisel.
　The photo below shows the exhibition at the Chiba City Museum of Art.

A work that brings to light relationships that were previously invisible
　For Tanaka, who has worked primarily on graphic design in paper media such as photo books, and Iida, a sculptor who uses books as his material, paper and the plants that are its raw materials are important motifs.
　The series of sculptural photographs based on these plants is called “Naturalized Plants” (2020).

　Particularly eye-catching is the approximately 2022m tall, 2.4m wide work Trifolium repens 5.6, which was shown at a group exhibition held at Shiseido Gallery in 2022. It is a set of four pieces that show the white clover we see in our daily lives, but each of the four pieces is output from a different video, and it can be seen that different times are connected within one work.

　The motifs of this work, such as white clover, poppy, Japanese quince, and Japanese ragwort, are invasive plants that we often see on the roadside and have been brought from their native habitats to Japan and become naturalized. These plants are also known as "naturalized plants." During the COVID-2020 pandemic, Nerhol had many conversations with cultural anthropologist Ana Chin, and deepened his thoughts on plants that are affected by human social activities. Nerhol, who had previously produced photo-sculptures of plants, created a work in XNUMX focusing on "naturalized plants" that have been affected by human social activities based on globalization.

　It is precisely because of the medium of carving stacked photographs that these works are able to "bring to light relationships that were previously invisible" (Ito Toshiharu, "Nerhol 2007-2024")

Finding something non-ordinary in daily life- Notice something in your everyday life
　Nerhol, who creates works based on the everyday, said, "I want to look as sensitively as possible at moments and actions that we casually overlook. Things that seem normal in daily life may not be normal because of an accumulation of coincidences. I hope that people who see (Nerhol's works) will become aware of something in their lives and that changes will occur in their lives." This was impressive to hear him say during the preview.

　Nerhol continues to transform familiar materials (paper and prints) and motifs (plants and people) into unique works through his own unique approach. This is made possible by the dialogue between the two artists.
　Through repeated dialogue, the two visualize aspects of everyday life that are often overlooked.
　What new forms of expression will Nerhol attempt in the future based on his contemporary perspective? We look forward to seeing what he will achieve.

ARTIST Info
Nerhol
Yoshihisa Tanaka Born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1980. Graduated from the Department of Spatial Design, Faculty of Art and Design, Musashino Art University.
Ryuta Iida Born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1981. Graduated from the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, majoring in advanced art.
Main exhibitions
● "Rolling Up the Horizon" Chiba City Museum of Art (Chiba, 2024)
● "Tenjin Mume Nusa" Dazaifu Tenmangu Treasure Hall (Fukuoka, 2024)
●“Nerhol: Beyond the Way” Leonora Carrington Museum (San Luis Potosí, Mexico, 2024)
OVERVIEW | Yutaka Kikutake Gallery