Exhibition Concept

”Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.” This famous statement by the British author G. K. Chesterton sums up the fact that, of all the cities in the world, artists of all periods and countries have flocked to Rome. Their art works dedicated to Rome are all statements of their longing for "the eternal city." Goethe, Stendhal, Andersen, Puccini, William Wyler, Fellini—surely an entire volume could be filled with just the names of the creative artists who have exalted the fascination of Rome in their works.

This exhibition introduces approximately 50 works on the subject of Rome by Hashi (Yasuomi Hashimura) who is based in New York and active worldwide. The ruins, monuments and streets of Rome have been etched with over two millennia of the city's history. These features lead our thoughts deep into the past, and far into the as yet unseen future. The works created with "HASHIGRAPHY," Hashi's unique technique, surpass the function of an ordinary photograph that simply freezes a single instant of reality. Instead, each Hashi image takes a single 21st century scene that we could view with our own eyes and rediscovers it as something a millennium in the future. These works vividly project the unfailing fascination of eternal city of Rome, inviting each and every one of us on an unending voyage through time.

Hiroya Murakami,
Chief Curator of The National Museum of Western Art