[Title] Untitled
[Artist] Takeharu Ogai
[Date] November 18, 2004 – January 11, 2005
The last display of Hermès’ 2004 annual theme, “Color and Fantasy,” is a scene of pure white created by countless sugar cubes. The window is truly a world filled with fantasy, and a perfect ending to this theme. The artist in charge was Takeharu Ogai.
During the Christmas season in Ginza, there appeared a snow-covered world, made of six cement bags full of granulated sugar and around 200,000 pieces of sugar cubes. Natural wave-like patterns cover the floor of the window. By using real sugar, one can feel its moderate solidity and beautiful glimmering texture even through the glass.
Hung from the ceiling above the sugar cubes is a chain made of crystal and beads, the total number adding up to nearly 6,000. Seen as a whole, the myriad chain creates a line like a flow of light. The chain, which was inspired by an aurora, casts the shadow of the crystals onto the sugar, giving a poetic and glittering atmosphere to the whole window. The presentation of the lines, as well as the shapes of various sugar cube objects in the small windows, insinuates Ogai’s architectural sensibility.
By displaying the products of Hermès against the pure color of white, the window creates a world in which the depth of each color is emphasized. In this fantastic world, one may feel as if time has stopped.
Takeharu Ogai
Artist born in 1969 in Chiba prefecture. Ogai began to collaborate with Ai Ogawa in 1997. In 2002, he participated “Emotional Site”( Sagacho Shokuryo Building) and “Private Luxury” (Mannno Museum of Art). Ogai held his own solo exhibition “Way to the Fountain” at Maison Hermès 8F Forum.