AMABIKI VILLAGE AND SCULPTURE

AMABIKI 2008 / YASUDA Masako

Figure of Plant -Wooden Fruit-

Zelcova, Mountain cherry
75×180×70 (h)cm
40×90×40 (h)cm

When I stand in front of the raw wood, I often get the feeling that just a very little work on it could bring forth a good form.
I worked on that kind of wood and created a single fruit.
I took time to fill in the blocks and join the raw wood together, and by the start of summer the elaborate piece of zelkova wood had dried and become a powerful sculpture.
I placed it boldly in a liberated space.

AMABIKI 2006 / YASUDA Masako

Figure of Plant -beans-

Zelkova, Cherry wood
35×230×110 (h)cm
35×60×47 (h)cm

This is a piece of keyaki, a Japanese zelkova wood that had been lying in my studio for ages. The rocks that were tangled within its roots were crushed up by the energy of its growth. As the days passed looking for a form, I developed an image of beans suddenly popping and setting down their roots.

THE FIFTH AMABIKI VILLAGE AND SCULPTURE / YASUDA Masako

Figure of plants

Zelkova
35×200×90 cm
60×90×40 cm

People offer one another raw walnuts in Germany at the start of fall. I brought a few uneaten ones home and planted them in the garden beside my studio. The following year, after I had forgotten about them, some shoots came up that looked right. When I had forgotten again, I glanced there and saw half the hard walnut shell rolling around at the bottom of the stalk. I borrowed the strength of the giant zelkova tree to express the form of that bud.

THE FOURTH AMABIKI VILLAGE AND SCULPTURE / YASUDA Masako

Flow

Kiri wood
250×250×60 cm
120×120×40 cm, and others

I found a grove that the sun penetrated into. I put together some boards I was carrying and thought about the image of circulating water. Departing from the usual forms, I continued this work up to the time of placement, and even now I'm arguing with myself about how to interact with this setting.

THE THIRD AMABIKI VILLAGE AND SCULPTURE / YASUDA Masako

Big Petals

Kiri wood (Paulownia wood)
200×60×40 cm
180×130×40 cm

Moku gu

Camphor tree
112×90×120 cm