images courtesy David Zwirner | click to enlarge
Continuing on with a few picks of upcoming Japanese artists showing in New York, I give you Yutaka Sone, who may have unknowingly produced the heaviest (and most expensive?) map of Manhattan.
Little Manhattan (2007 – 09), which is part of the artist’s solo show at David Zwirner (opening September 20) was painstakingly carved from a block of marble and consists of excruciating detail that was replicated using photographs, Google Earth and several helicopter rides over the city. I do hope the artist was happy where he was working because at 2.5 tones, it’s a bit different from rearranging your furniture.
Originally trained as an architect, Sone’s obsession with landscape and construction have led him to produce similar pieces that replicate Hong Kong Island, Los Angeles highway junctions, a mountain range, a section of a rainforest, ski resorts, and his own backyard.
September 14, 2011 at 10:00 am
we’re looking forward to this show too. but, don’t forget to check out fordproject http://www.nyartbeat.com/event/2011/E370 to see Hideaki Kawashima, Makiko Kudo and Toru Kuwakubo, just opened yesterday.
September 14, 2011 at 10:14 am
@perke you guys went yesterday, right? How was it? I’m planning on going this week.
September 14, 2011 at 11:10 am
What a shame. The artist took all that time, heli trips and Google research and never noticed the island is not flat. Yutaka Sone you totally missed the topography of Manhattan. It is not flat there are many hills. This would be such an awesome piece if you could see the island correctly.
September 14, 2011 at 11:29 am
@Johnny, It’s a very nice selection of paintings. I like Toru Kuwakubo especially, and even Makiko Kudo, who was the only one who did not make it to the opening. Koyama and two artists were there to our surprise.
September 14, 2011 at 1:38 pm
this is crazy amazing!! It takes a ridiculous amount of patients for someone to take the time to actually carve this out.
I wish i had it..
September 15, 2011 at 10:52 am
@Don Draper, Way to be a dick
September 15, 2011 at 6:53 pm
@Don Draper, I guess the whole thing is completely worthless then. Maybe next time you should give it a shot, I’m sure you could get it all perfect, right?
September 16, 2011 at 8:41 pm
@Don Draper, the highest natural point on Manhattan is only 265 ft. The island is 13.4 miles long, over 70,000ft. 265ft is also far shorter than many of the buildings on the island. Given this, any hills should be hardly perceptible. I actually think that looking towards the north end of the island (where most of the hills are) you can see some slight height variations. I think you were expecting him to exaggerate the height as most 3D maps do, but in actually he was even more precise!