Working with cast aluminum alloy and stone, Seiji Kunishima creates unique,
intimately-sized sculptures which consist of interlocking metal forms and the spaces naturally
held within these removable elements - inner chambers that contain real stones.
Seeking to render what is considered in the west to be empty, negative space - the void - as
an entity in its own right, Kunishima's sculptural forms use objects that occupy physical
space, to delineate and define the two as necessary, inextricable partners: form and emptiness
coexisting as one thing.
Through an evocation of the harmony of opposites, Kunishima's sculptures make use of this
conceptual model first with the contrast of material and surface. Just as Japanese
garden design offers a potential means for meditation on the order and process of nature,
his sculptures seek to shift one's gaze through the successive layers, allowing the secret,
once-concealed forms within to leverage memory as an intangible component of the work.
For the artist, it is these intervals between forms that create a sense of deep silence
- an indication of the invisible processes in nature, the understanding of which ultimately
depends upon one's imagination. This exhibition will feature seven unique sculptures
to be displayed atop pedestals, a black granite floor sculpture from the series "Stone Work"
dating back to 1982-6, and graphite drawings.
Seiji Kunishima, born in Nagoya, Japan, has gained recognition over the past forty years
for his large formal works created from monumental stones surrounded by open air.
His sculptures serve as abstractions of nature, and offer a resonating sense of mountain, hill,
plain, water and the fullness of air.
Kunishima has exhibited internationally since 1963. His work is represented in
the collections of the Laguna Beach Museum of Art, the Fresno Art Museum, UCSB Art Museum
in Santa Barbara. The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Grand
Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, among others. Additionally, the San Francisco
International Airport has commissioned work for the Central Terminal in San Francisco.
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