Mizuta Tasogare and Kato Jado, as well as other artists, have taken ordinary pencils and turned them into insane platforms for sculpture. I can try to imagine the mixture of tedious work, patience and teeth-clenching-on-caffeine feeling this must induce, but I would rather just relax and enjoy the end results.
The point of showing these is that when you take something and use it or look at it in a way that is beyond the original intent you can find new avenues for exploration and creativity.
If you consider the one above, it is almost hellish in nature. Imagine thinking of this, then thinking to yourself, yes, I will do this. It’s beautiful but the mechanical, interlocking aspect makes my teeth feel weird.
When I was a kid in school I went through various phases of pencil-abuse including pencil-fighting, wherein each student would take turns flicking one pencil against another trying to break it. Frowned upon by teachers from coast to coast, it was a strange but compelling way for kids in elementary school to compete before fighting over girls kicked in. Now though, seeing these works of art, I feel guilty and silly for pencil fighting.
Of course the other thing that kids do with pencils is chew on them and slobber on them, until they figure out to slobber on the opposite sex. I am guilty of these things as well, and I feel remorse knowing that the innocent pencils I annihilated for mere entertainment could have enjoyed better, more prosperous lives as art.
Eric Chamberlain 