Art comes in many forms, but all those forms have in common their intimate dependence on light (something to bear in mind on this, the shortest day of the year). Without this miraculous form of energy you wouldn't know the difference between an Old Master canvas, an Abstract Expressionist work or an unopened pot of paint.
One artist who has realized this truism more literally than most is Olafur Eliasson, a Dane who has made the "light bridge" between the art object and the audience the focus of much of his work. Eliasson has also worked with other basic elemental forces, such as temperature and pressure, but for "Your Light Shadow," his first solo show in Japan, at Tokyo's Hara Museum, the emphasis is mainly on light and shadow, with water playing a supporting role.
Internationally acclaimed following his "Weather Project" at London's Tate Modern in 2003, when he played God by installing a giant sun-like disc and controlling the atmosphere and mood of the Tate's massive central atrium, Eliasson is now raising his profile in Japan with his present show and a future project that places a permanent installation on the roof of the Art Deco building that is the home of the Hara.