AC Insitute presents Takafumi Ide’s Life is fleeting; therefore, life is beautiful. This expression is based on one of the values in Japanese aesthetics: impermanence. The fragile and transitory qualities of impermanence are considered exceptionally beautiful. This idea describes the central theme of Takafumi Ide’s work: ephemeral human life and its beauty.

Ide’s installations focus on the stages of life and are derived from his personal experiences. The installations at the AC Institute are created in three stages. Propagate represents birth. Generate and reverberate show memory, particularly the memories of his grandmother. Through a new work, escalate, Ide symbolizes the pathway to death.

Ide’s conceptual and aesthetic concerns are inspired by specific sites. By spending time in the allotted location, he envisions activating the space and transforms his visualization of the space into his installation. The materials often dictate Ide’s idea. He incorporates small fragile objects such as branches, gold leaf, hand made paper, lights, tiny shards of metal and electronic circuitry. The harmony that exists between the small objects offers a sense of solemnity. These delicate elements are meant to touch a chord within the audience and suggest a moment of calm, delight and reflection.

Sound is essential to the installations; he construct spaces with a combination of voice and created auditory effects. Light, sometimes a blinking light that is synchronized electrically with the harmonized sound, communicates with the viewer while casting a shadow of the structure. Composite modules of repeated sound, small objects, and shadows propagate his message. The viewer is stimulated by the psychological and physiological effect of the piece on the senses.

Takafumi Ide is an interdisciplinary media artist specializing in installation with sound and light. He received his B.A. in graphic design from Tama Art University in Tokyo in 1989, and his M.F.A. in studio art from Stony Brook University in 2007. He has worked for more than ten years as an illustrator in Japan and now teaches at Stony Brook University as a lecturer. He has received several honors, such as the Sculpture Space Fellowship and Residency, the Strategic Opportunity Stipend Program Grant through the New York Foundation for the Arts, and most recently the Nomura Cultural Foundation’s Project Grant, and the Vermont Studio Center’s partial-grant and Residency. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally. More recent juried solo exhibitions include the Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, VA and the Glyndor Gallery at the Wave Hill in Bronx, NY. Forthcoming solo exhibition is schedule at Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, NY.