We’re big fans of the minimalist sculptor Mitsuru Koga (previously), so when we heard he had a new show in Tokyo we couldn’t pass up the chance to check it out.
all photos by spoon & tamago
Koga’s new exhibition “Graphic” represented a stark deviation from his previous work, which typically was inspired by forms of nature: leaves, stones and driftwood. His new body of work is a series of delicate wire sculptures placed inside a frame. The wires are fused together just right so that the lines take the form of three-dimensional shapes.
Koga, of course, is the first to recognize his new slant. “Just like there are beautiful forms in nature, equally beautiful forms exist in forms that only humans can create,” says Koga. The series is an attempt to isolate some of forms in day-to-day life that have become so obvious to us that we no longer notice them. But by recreating them in minimal wire and capturing them inside a frame where we can look but not touch, Koga manages to reposition our sense of beauty.
Also on display are a series of wood sculptures called atelier, in which Koga has carved paint brushes out of a single block of wood. He’s then applied coats of paint to the sculpture so that the brushes appear to have just been placed there, rather than having emerged from the block of wood.
“Graphic” is on display through November 26, 2016 at the gallery space “PLACE” (Gmap) in Shibuya.
