{"id":29174,"date":"2015-07-04T14:06:13","date_gmt":"2015-07-04T20:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=29174"},"modified":"2020-02-15T11:02:54","modified_gmt":"2020-02-15T17:02:54","slug":"ring-the-bell-until-it-cracks-scott-tsuchitanis-internment-in-the-street-gallery-at-umoca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/ring-the-bell-until-it-cracks-scott-tsuchitanis-internment-in-the-street-gallery-at-umoca\/","title":{"rendered":"Ring the Bell Until It Cracks: Scott Tsuchitani\u2019s Internment in the Street Gallery at UMOCA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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” . . . . “, soft ground drawing + aquatint, 6 x 6 in. (2011)Image 2 of 12<\/p><\/div>\n

Perhaps the most important question that should be asked of any new work of art is this: So What?<\/em> A work can do all sorts of things, some of them even unprecedented, but unless doing so serves a purpose, the accomplishment may be no more than a stunt. So what if it brings together elements rarely or never seen together: two subjects, a technique and a theme, high and low culture? Recognition of the achievement should always be followed by the sober reply: So What?<\/em><\/p>\n

Fortunately, the humorous, yet ultimately tragic, composite prints of Scott Tsuchitani, at UMOCA throughout July, pull together disparate materials for gently explosive effects that answer the question in several ways. The title of the multi-plate etching \u201cSafety in Silence, or the Elephant in the Room Never Forgets\u201d stitches together two idioms: the elephant in the room, symbolic of something not being spoken about, and the elephant\u2019s unfailing memory. The title creature then appears in a traditional Japanese American living room, which it paradoxically shares with three generations of a family celebrating a new child. The juxtaposition of memory and the traditional family makes a point elaborated upon in the soundtrack of the video that accompanies the prints. California\u2019s Tule Lake Relocation Camp, and what happened to those who were confined there against their wills during World War II, is not forgotten; it\u2019s just not spoken of. What emerges from these several collisions, of language and image and media, is an understanding of the depths of shame, where remembering is as mandatory as silence.<\/p>\n