Year: 2026
Medium: acrylic on wood (Japanese Pagoda Tree)
Dimensions: 34.5 x 17.5 x 17 cm (13 1/2 x 6 7/8 x 6 3/4 in.)
Acquired from t. gallery, 2026
Kunimatsu is a sculptor who uses his creative practice to consider the boundaries between various phenomena. This work is part of the “Glacier Mountain” series of sculptures in wood inspired by the ridgelines of icebergs. The artist has a broad view of the surrounding mountain ranges and horizon from his creative base at the Tobiu Art Community (Hokkaido), but he has not carved the works to mimic concrete parts of these landscapes. Instead, his sculptural creations interweave other places he has seen, as well as imagined scenery, brought to mind by those views. The contours of mountains and the horizon may appear merely as boundary “lines” from afar, yet these are in fact spatial phenomena whose appearance shifts depending on factors including the viewpoint, the weather, and the time of day. When observing an iceberg, for example, there is nothing static about its form, which continues to grow and collapse over long periods of time. In addition, how their ridgelines are found beautiful is left to the sensibilities of the individuals beholding them. Kunimatsu’s sculptures do not simply use boundaries to define the shapes of objects; they challenge our senses on what the boundaries that appear before us at a given place and time are serving to separate. In this work, the wood has been shaped into a spire, painted white like a snow-capped mountain, and then daringly set ablaze so that the majority of the surface has been charred. The scorched hole in the middle of the work evokes a sense of abyssal darkness and depth, despite the small stature of the work. It appears like an animal’s lair, or perhaps a deep cave. Just as Kunimatsu draws inspiration for his free-form sculptures from natural landscapes, the mountain-like form and deep hole conjure various scenes deep within the viewers' minds.
Kunimatsu identifies the type of wood used for each of his sculptures, and the wood for this work comes from the Japanese Pagoda Tree, which is closely connected to this museum.
