Art that makes us go ‘ah’ and ‘oh’.
Unveiled at the Sean Kelly Gallery on March 22nd, Mariko Mori’s latest solo exhibition, Invisible Dimension, invites viewers to question the celestial, circuitous, and the metaphysical nature of being.
In her prisms, Plama Stones, Mori has managed to capture several rainbows and coax them indoors, sky, light, elusiveness, and all. The viewer finds himself absorbed into the pieces as light is bent, refracted, and emitted in vibrant washes. As a result, the prisms are elevated from the static traditions of sculpture into an interactive
installation. The viewer, no longer merely a witness, is elevated into the role of creator, manipulating the dynamism of light through movement.
The two Spirifer sculptures in the lower gallery are a continuum of Plasma Stones’ balance, undulating forms, and play on light. These two pieces are the smallest of the show standing on pedestals.
Cycloid V and Ekpyrotic String VI mark a continuation of Mori’s visual aesthetics as seen by her earlier works such as Cyclic I and Ekpyrotic String III, which also deputed at the Sean Kelly gallery in 2014.These works, despite the similarities to Plasma Stones, do not engage the viewer on the same level of affability. Their scale, lack of figurative reference, and resistance to the ground both evoke the transformative purity of minimalism and alienate the viewer. Succeeding in her ability to conceptualize the elegance and grace of physics and failing to sympathize with the viewer, the works are aesthetically pleasing and emotionally empty. Perhaps, it is because it defies our innate logic surrounding nature and beginning. For Mori, it appears lines are a vibration indefinitely passing through and beyond matter.
The recent work of Mariko Mori is grounded on the principles of non-objective art and incorporate the ideas of artist such Sol Lewitt and Donald Judd in their use fabrication and industrial materials as a means to explore ideas of purity and minalism through organic and geometric forms. The intersections of western science and traditional Japanese culture are themes that permeate her work and search for purity.
Overall, Mariko Mori is an internationally celebrated artist working and living in London, New York, and Japan. Over the years she has exhibited in museums and cultural institutions worldwide such as the Pompidou in Paris and The Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York. She is also the founder of the Faou Foundation, a non for profit foundation with the mission to place six site specific works across different continents in effort to highlight the beauty and connection between humankind and the environment.
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