Sculpture or Three-dimensional Work by Foreign Artist
Inventory Number
90-SF-003
This work was first made in balsa wood and then later cast in heavy bronze. Balsa is light enough to be used in model airplanes and soft enough to be shaped easily with a knife. Several elongated, bone-like rods are hung using fine wire from a small top block that is supported by a tall pillar. Even the faintest of breezes makes the rods sway, giving expression to the fragility of life. Isamu Noguchi later came to believe that “it is weight that gives meaning to weightlessness.” By using a heavy material like bronze to express this state of pendulousness he makes his underlying theme of transience even more prominent. The sculptor recalled the Japanese tea ceremony teaching that “light things are handled as though heavy, heavy things as though light.”
(NAKAMURA Naoaki)
This work was first made in balsa wood and then later cast in heavy bronze. Balsa is light enough to be used in model airplanes and soft enough to be shaped easily with a knife. Several elongated, bone-like rods are hung using fine wire from a small top block that is supported by a tall pillar. Even the faintest of breezes makes the rods sway, giving expression to the fragility of life. Isamu Noguchi later came to believe that “it is weight that gives meaning to weightlessness.” By using a heavy material like bronze to express this state of pendulousness he makes his underlying theme of transience even more prominent. The sculptor recalled the Japanese tea ceremony teaching that “light things are handled as though heavy, heavy things as though light.”
(NAKAMURA Naoaki)