The 3 lesser-known sculptures: What is materiality in Japanese Art?

When we talk about Japanese art and design, it is widely known as its minimalistic approach which can refer to the Zen philosophy root in Buddhism. However, before Buddhism arrived in Japan, the only religion there was Shinto. Nowadays, both are the main religions and co-exist peacefully. Shinto has “polytheistic and animistic” beliefs. Early Japanese society didn't have the concept of “anthropomorphic deities”, but they did believe that spirits lived in nature and its events. These spirits are called kami and they inhabit everything around us. So, it’s not hard to realise why there are temples everywhere in Japan and why they even hold ritual ceremonies to worship rocks and trees. The profound culture influenced by Shinto is one of the reasons why Japanese artists are capable to use unique visions to interpret materiality. They embrace searching and exploring the cyclically renewed life and soul in natural material.

 

Untitled, 1987, Chuichi Fujii, Japanese Ceder, 320/400/H350cm,
Image from https://www.thaiotsukanutrition.club/about-page-en.php

The monumental sculptures of Chuichi Fujii are tree trunks that remain untouched which shows a slow sense of movement in his untitled sculpture in 1985. They lean in towards each other like a dancing couple hugging each other. The artwork used this dramatic scenario to shift away the consciousness of the unstable heavyweight logs. The sculpture was fabricated by just repositioning them. The approach involved less amount of control over the material and result in a powerful narrative formed by materiality.

Wood Joint Work XI, 1985, Ko Yamane, Oak, 50/50/30cm,
Image from the book, Contemporary Japanese Sculpture

If one of the pieces of Ko Yamane's 1985 sculpture Wood Joint XI were made of other soft materials like clay, they could be reassembled. However, the split pieces of wood planks imply that a unitary state can never resume. The joinery on top attempted to hold the separated pieces, however, would never be the same as its original. Yamane has carefully chosen the media and his work shows the unique property of wood.

Stacking Stones, 1983, Seiji Kunishima, Stone, 355.6/106.7/106.7cm
Image from https://www.sfomuseum.org/public-art/public-collection/stacking-stones

Seiji Kunishima created Stacking Stones, a totem column that sits in the central terminal of San Francisco International Airport, in 1983. 5 massive stone pieces were square cut into slices and stacked vertically. In contrast to the highly polished surfaces done artificially, the top and bottom edges of each stone were raw cut, revealing the true nature of the material. Each stone varies in size, implying individual identities; the consistency of the stacking demonstrates their bonded relationship. Our society is metaphorically related to this concept of being “separate but cooperating”.

One of the crucial elements in Japanese sculpture that could be easily found is materiality. Understanding materiality in its entirety is no simple task. However, there are some similarities between the presented examples, such as the fact that the artwork was made with very less manipulation of the raw material. All these three artists played a role as an enhancer to present the properties of the material with their visions, instead of just creating visually mesmerising sculptures. Raw material now has a deeper meaning thanks to materiality's inherent qualities, and our perception of known materials has been changed as a result. Knowing the principle of materiality could generate alternative thinking in our creative minds and will surely assist us to achieve better creations.

Notes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto

Janet Koplos, Contemporary Japanese Sculpture, 1991, P.49,75,80