Excavation 発掘 04

Takuo Asahi

The artist senses the undulation of energy hidden within solid wood and expresses its presence in an analog manner using advanced technology. His abstract pictorial objects take the form and color tones of a bird's eye view of the eternal continent and bedrock, inviting the viewer into an endless wilderness.

Wood（horse chestnut)

H280 x W620 x D38.5 cm

Message from the artist / About the work

The mass products of today are almost uniformly tailored, leaving only the individuality of the surface layer. It has both negative and positive aspects.

With the cutting-edge technology of our time, in which efficiency is advancing unchecked, this series of works excavates the "form" of the unique energy contained in the materials.

The title of the work, "Excavation," refers to the process of rough carving with a high-powered laser and then gently excavating the wood with a brush and hand while determining the hardness of the wood.

The textures revealed by the cohabitation of cutting-edge technology and analog techniques resemble stratified bedrock or an assemblage of dwellings viewed from far above.

Half of the main work, half the size of a tatami mat, is uniformly finished using wood cutting techniques, expressing the opposites that coexist within a single continuous board, such as the two sides of a chaotic world situation and a sense of life and death.

I believe that each person who sees this work is right to feel it in his or her own way.

We hope you will be able to feel something from my work.

About the Artist

Born December 5, 1981 in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan.

After studying architecture at university, he went to Europe and played professional soccer in Ljubljana (Republic of Slovenia). After returning to Japan, he worked for a major interior design firm for 6 years before setting up his own studio in Hida Takayama. He sublimates the material of wood into art using unconventional methods.