This 1994 sculpture by Tatsuo Miyajima comprises three digital counters whose changing red numerals follow no particular sequential order, thus integrating randomness into the artwork's very composition. With its unsettling balance between order and disorder, "Oblique Three" operates as a commentary on the limits of human control, both in art and in our relationship to technology.

Each of the three units measures 4.25 x 10.25 x 1 inches (10.8 x 26 x 2.5 cm) and bear the numbers 30857, 50857, and 10857.

Tatsuo Miyajima (Japanese, b. 1957) is a contemporary artist who creates sculptures out of LED devices and circuitry. Miyajima’s digital components, with their randomized numerical displays, act as building blocks for compositions that play on notions of order, sequence, randomness, and time. These installations and sculptural works reflect both the digitization of contemporary communication and the principles of contemplation that underpin the Japanese philosophical tradition. Miyajima studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, receiving a BA in 1984 and an MA in 1986. He has had solo exhibitions at Buchmann Galerie, Berlin, Germany; Six, Seoul, Korea; Lisson Gallery, London, England; and Galleri Andersson/ Sandstrom, Stockholm, Sweden, among many others. He lives and works in Ibaraki, Japan.

Selected Public Collections:
Dallas Museum of Art, TX
Denver Art Museum, CO
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, Munich, Germany
Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
Tate Modern, London, England