Sculpture or Three-dimensional Work by Foreign Artist
Inventory Number
86-SF-001
Hans Arp does not try to imitate natural forms, nor does he reduce them to an abstract. Instead, he gives shape to the primordial vitality that exists in all living things. In this work, a freshness of spirit seems to open the inner joints and stretch the statue upwards, making it spiral towards the heavens. The surface appears to respond to internal pressure caused by the movement of its unseen bones and creates a supple and complex silhouette. Arp called this kind of work “concretion,” meaning the solidification of something with no definite form into a particular shape. Everything that grows—including stars, natural objects, and human beings—is a concretion. Arp would spend months or years on a single work. It would only be completed when “enough of my life has flowed into its body,” he said. (NAKAMURA Naoaki)
Hans Arp does not try to imitate natural forms, nor does he reduce them to an abstract. Instead, he gives shape to the primordial vitality that exists in all living things. In this work, a freshness of spirit seems to open the inner joints and stretch the statue upwards, making it spiral towards the heavens. The surface appears to respond to internal pressure caused by the movement of its unseen bones and creates a supple and complex silhouette. Arp called this kind of work “concretion,” meaning the solidification of something with no definite form into a particular shape. Everything that grows—including stars, natural objects, and human beings—is a concretion. Arp would spend months or years on a single work. It would only be completed when “enough of my life has flowed into its body,” he said.
(NAKAMURA Naoaki)