Up/Down

• 1997
• Stamp : 6.0 x 1.7 x 1.7cm, Paper : 1.5 x 12.3 x 16.5cm
• material : Wood and Stamp, Paper

I discovered that the Japanese kanji 上 (up) seen through the back of
transparent paper looks like the kanji 下 (down). Since then I’ve wondered
about the front-back relation between up and down.

When I cut the shape 上 from many sheets of paper and stacked up the sheets,
in made a series of air scluptures of 上 and 下. I noticed that the boundary
of 上 and 下 was the height of the viewer’s eye level. Then I did the same thing
using ink that shone under ultraviolet light to print 上. When I flipped
the sheets of paper, a three-dimensional light afterimage appeared.