My Arizona : spaces in Noguchi's playgrounds

Abstract

This dissertation investigates Noguchi’s wall relief My Arizona from the aspects of materials, previous criticism, its historical context, as well as the artistic and cultural origins. My Arizona is a relief sculpture incorporating the form of geography, architecture, and design, encapsulating the American landscape which suggests identity, bodily rhetoric, the innovation in materials, and the wartime history of relocation. The approach of reinterpreting My Arizona can be applied to the interpretations of Noguchi’s other works due to the complex intertextuality among his works in different fields. This dissertation reviews previous scholarly works on Noguchi which involve misreading and inappropriate approaches. This research identifies some biases such as overemphasis on Noguchi’s hybridity as a Japanese American that lead to the underestimation his social engagement and concerns as a modernist sculptor. Based on previous scholarship, this research highlights Noguchi’s exploration of materials and suggests the necessity for reinterpretation. This research recognizes space as the pivotal hint to deconstruct Noguchi’s works, drawing on modern theories and ideas on space from Michael Foucault, Gaston Bachelard, and Henri Lefebvre, this research deconstructs My Arizona from the perspective of space. Through elaborating on the interpretation of My Arizona and related context, this research argues that the work is a heterotopia as well as a playground, reflecting the artist’s social engagement and modernist experimentation as a sculptor.