Dialogue with Reclaimed Wood

I made my base in The Hague, Netherlands, and there I encountered reclaimed wood.

On street corners, large metal skips are occasionally placed — filled mostly with materials discarded during renovations. I climb into these skips myself to engage in a dialogue with the wood. Shapes, scratches, deterioration, texture — each piece is a wholly unique material. Every one of them bears traces of having shared time with someone, somewhere. They are filled with layers of time and stories. In them, wabi-sabi dwells. And the destiny of meeting these materials at that specific moment, in that specific place, carries the spirit of ichigo-ichie. I pick up what calls to me, and wash it — a misogi, a purification. Then I sublimate it into a work of art. I breathe new life into it. I let it circulate. By weaving this process into my practice of Cosmic Rhythm, I believe elements of nature — of the cosmos — enter the work, and the work itself carries a deeper narrative. It also quietly encompasses meanings of environmental inquiry, cycles, and transformation.

All of these processes, and the fact that the works are owned or exhibited by someone, somewhere — I consider all of this to be the workings of the Law of Dependent Origination, as taught by Shakyamuni — the understanding that all things exist through mutual relationship and dependence.

About:

Artist Kota

Artist Statement:

How I breathe life into reclaimed wood.

Cosmic Rhythm Series:

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