Yuichi Hirako “Number of Trees” @ The Modern Institute, Glasgow

Yuichi Hirako presents a large-scale installation at The Modern Institute in Glasgow, comprising acrylic paintings and wooden sculptures across Aird’s Lane and the Bricks Space, asking for a reconsideration of our relationship to nature and offering a subtle allegory for current global environmental issues, expressed in his joyful aesthetic language. A questioning of our awareness of the greenery around us formed the impetus for the new works: the shapes of leaves on houseplants; the plantings, arrangement of flower beds and topiary in local parks; the attractive but unsettlingly wild masses of tree species that constitute a forest. Hirako asks us to look at situations where nature enters our world, disguised and interspersed with human creations and technologies.