Work No.1 EN

Work and Interpretation

No.1 “Time and Gravity”

Masahiko Doh

Observation and interpretation by Eshin

Basic Information

Title　“Time and Gravity”
Artist　Masahiko Doh
Year　1982
Medium　Serigraph
Dimensions　87 × 57 cm
Source　Kodansha, Masahiko Doh Print Collection, No.1

Recorded on the basis of the confirmed information preserved by the archive.

Current Exhibition in Montreal

Currently on view (confirmed September 4, 2026)
Une assemblée pour le cosmos
Venue　Galerie de l’UQAM
Dates　September 4–October 17, 2026

This exhibition considers our relationship with the cosmos through contemporary art.

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Observation and Interpretation by Eshin

1982, 87 × 57 cm. This is the very first work placed in the print collection.

When I first saw it, I thought, “This is a difficult work.” And yet it appears at the very beginning of the book. Why does the collection start with this work? That question first drew me back into the image.

Against a black background, rectangles overlap in many layers. Are they boards, roads, or space itself? Following the gradations, the direction seems to turn ninety degrees partway through. Is this a visual trick that uses an optical illusion? That was my first thought. But if that were all, why would the work be titled “Time and Gravity”?

I look at the two spheres, and their shadows draw my attention. Each seems to have two shadows. Ordinarily, I would think about the source of light. But as I continue looking, I begin to wonder whether one of them is not a shadow at all, but the place where the sphere existed only a moment earlier.

If so, within a single still image I am seeing both the sphere in its present position and the sphere as it was immediately before. Gravity continues to act while the sphere moves. Might the almost regular distance between the two positions also signify intervals of time?

At this point, the title suddenly draws closer: “Time and Gravity.” Is the artist attempting to make these two invisible forces visible through the positions of the spheres, their shadows, their movement, and the distortion of space?

I then look again at the slab-like space. What would happen if this space itself were distorted? I take flat space for granted when I look, but that assumption may not itself be correct.

The pale rectangles overlap in many layers, and parts of them are concealed by black areas. Because they are hidden, is there nothing there? No. In my mind, I complete the unseen continuation. Unless I accept the possibility that what I cannot see still exists, I cannot even perceive the image as a single space. Realizing this, I feel that my own way of perceiving the work is also being questioned.

The overlapping rectangles also seem to rotate gradually clockwise. Their colors deepen toward the distance and eventually dissolve into darkness. At first I saw the black as an unsettling space. As I continue looking, however, it seems to guide me quietly toward the depths of the cosmos, carrying more than fear alone.

In the blue, stippled sphere, I sense a dimension different from the world we know—a cosmos still unknown to us. The overlapping rectangles also bring a pyramid to mind. This association, however, is colored by a later memory: the artist himself once told me that the exterior of his studio was designed with “the pyramid and the cosmos” in mind. I do not know whether it is appropriate to connect this 1982 work directly with the studio he built later.

At first, I could think only that the work was difficult. But as I looked again at the shadows, considered the hidden space, and returned to the title, I began to feel that I could see, if only faintly, why this work was placed first in the book. I have not found an answer. Rather, the questions that recur throughout the works that follow—time, space, the cosmos, and what can and cannot be seen—seem already to have been placed here, at the entrance.

About the Artwork Image

Out of respect for copyright, the artwork image is not currently published here.

Record and Verification Notes

Source: Kodansha’s Masahiko Doh Print Collection. Interpretation: Eshin, Masahiko Doh – Interpretations by Eshin (English edition), final revised manuscript dated August 31, 2026, text pages 1–2.
Direct testimony: the reference to the design of the artist’s studio in the interpretation is a later memory of what the artist himself told Eshin.
Unconfirmed: support and materials; edition, signature, and date inscription; current location. These will be added after verification.
The archive distinguishes observation and interpretation of the work from confirmed facts about the artist’s intention.

Record created September 3, 2026

Previous work: this is the first work.
No.2 “Street Corner B-G” is currently published on the English Home page.
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