Cellotape artwork

Released 05/01/2009

Bizarre artist displays his sticky art

A Japanese sculptor is displaying his 60th anniversary of his Cellotape artwork, with pieces made up of sticky tape.

There are 50 or so works on display at sculptor Ryo Sehata's "Cellotape 60th Anniversary" exhibition, which runs until February 15.

Many of the pieces are abstract shapes, some embellished with color, but some are eerily realistic and resemble babies or animals.

"As you can see my hands are criss-crossed with scars and my fingers can hardly move thanks to repetitive strain injury, so it's no joke that I have poured blood and sweat in to my art," Sehata told Reuters Television recently.

A piece like the abstract "Rolling Sculpture.24" began as a small ball of tape in 2006. Two years and 4,000 rolls later, Sehata calculates he's stuck about 140 km (87 miles) of adhesive tape to create the sculpture.

"It's like a marathon," he describes. "After a certain point the experience actually starts becoming pleasant and once I get to that point it's basically like a runner's high and that's when the momentum gets going and of course, when I complete the project."

"I used to work in a stationery shop for the past couple of decades but as someone selling tape, I had no idea it could be used like this," said 64-year-old Hiroko Iwasaki.

"It's what children use to stick things together. The fact that it could be made into art was beyond the scope of my imagination."

Source: Reuters

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