Bronx Project
Toshio Sasaki
- 1991
- Color offset lithograph
- Image/sheet: 21 ¾ x 30 inches
- 2009-61-75
About the Print
From the Artist
I believe that the challenge is to expedite a new cultural awareness and foster cross-cultural dialogue through an accessible visual language.
With a bright blue sky and lacy clouds overhead, a building stands alone in an empty lot in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. In this dreamlike scene, the protruding prow of a large ship, placed high against the wall, cast a dark shadow. A mood or sense of isolation prevails. Who once lived in this abandoned building? Where did everyone go? What stories played out in these spaces where only brick, paint, and bits of wallpaper remain? Finally, what about the boat, up high and dry, and out of water?
In 1974, when Toshio Sasaki arrived in the United States, the Bronx was in social turmoil. Sasaki saw the devastation. The property was being abandoned and destroyed. People, especially the poor, were displaced and their communities destroyed. As a recent immigrant, Sasaki experienced loneliness and loss of community and family. In 1991, while making Bronx Project, Toshio Sasaki looked back to a time when he was like a ship out of water.
—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records
Let's Look
- What do you see? What do you think? What do you wonder?
- Look at the buildings. How can you tell that no one lives here anymore? What else makes this scene seem lonely and isolated?
- Where are you standing in this picture? Did the artist want you to feel big or small? How did he make you feel that way?
- Why would the artist have put a boat into a building?
- Toshio Sasaki emigrated from Japan to the United States to go to art school in New York. How might this image reflect his feelings and experiences?
Toshio Sasaki
Japanese Born Kyoto, Japan, 1946; died Nagakute, Japan, 2007
About the Artist
Toshio Sasaki was a sculptor born in Kyoto, Japan. He earned a BFA from Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts, Nagakute, Japan. He received a scholarship to study at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, New York City.
He is most known for his works in public spaces, particularly First Symphony of the Sea, a 322-foot-long wall relief embedded with multihued mosaic fish heads and terrazzo starfish at the New York Aquarium at Coney Island, and a 40-by-30-foot facade for a public library in Long Island City, Queens. The facade, with geometric shapes on cast-stone panels, is inscribed with quotations about art, literature, and science. His works have been exhibited in Washington, DC; Philadelphia; South Beach Psychiatric Center, Staten Island, New York City; and in New York City’s Central Park. He was one of eight finalists in the design competition for the World Trade Center memorial.
He lived in Nagakute in the Aichi Prefecture of Japan and had a home in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn.
—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records
Curriculum Connections
Suggested Topics for Art Projects, Group Discussion, and Independent Writing
Art
Landscapes
Photograph the architecture and surroundings of your neighborhood. Create a montage to capture the culture of the environment. Include things that are beautiful and things that some might find less attractive.
Express an Emotion
Create a drawing, painting, print, or collage of an object that captures an emotion or feeling that everyone experiences, such as excitement, loneliness, or joy. Emphasize the emotion with colors, shapes, lines, and textures. What else will you include? The work can be a realistic or abstract representation.
Language Arts
Lune Poem
In Bronx Project, the artist selected two objects (an abandoned building and a ship) as symbols of loneliness. Create a lune poem about this print or about a particular place or event that is important to you. Include details about the print, place, or event and the feelings the artist or you experienced.
In Your Opinion
"I believe that the challenge is to expedite a new cultural awareness and foster cross-cultural dialogue through an accessible visual language."
Consider Toshio Sasaki's quote about his artwork. In your opinion, does Bronx Project reflect the meaning of his words? How? If not, why not?
Social Studies
Interview
There are many reasons why people leave their birthplace to live in a new and unfamiliar place. Interview someone you know who found a new homeland. Write their story as an oral history.