Era, 1986

In an almost legendary journey, Hidetoshi Nagasawa travelled by bicycle from Asia to Italy. Settling in Milan in 1968, the artist was in touch with the new language of Arte Povera, although his approach and resulting work remain autonomous and independent. The theme of the journey, understood both as a physical act and as a path to spiritual awareness, continues to be an important area of research for the artist, who identifies the form of the boat as an iconographic archetype that contains a wealth of ideas. In continuous dialogue with his personal cultural identity and that of his adopted country, Nagasawa establishes a point of ideal contact between East and West in his work, drawing upon the principles of Zen philosophy as well as Greco-Roman myths and stories from the Old Testament. [...]