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Contemporary Art

LIFE CYCLES | A Bamboo Exploration with Tanabe Chikuunsai IV (Capsule Review)

Laura Hess

• 1 min read
LIFE CYCLES | A Bamboo Exploration with Tanabe Chikuunsai IV (Capsule Review)
A wide shot of a white gallery space. A latticed sculpture of bamboo weaves its way through the room, like delicate wormholes that appear to emerge and recede into the walls and floor.
Photo: JAPAN HOUSE

[Original publication: No Proscenium, 12/13/22]

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Furrowed in the tourist heart of Hollywood is a cultural gem. JAPAN HOUSE offers thoughtful Japanese-centric programming and art exhibitions. Last year, Kengo Kito’s installation of 2,021 intertwined hula hoops embodied connection and unity.

Currently, the work of a fourth-generation bamboo artist is represented in the gallery. LIFE CYCLES is an immersive, 70-foot, site-specific sculpture by Tanabe Chikuunsai IV. Although the sculpture is static, it feels active and kinetic; it moves in the playground of peripheral vision.

Chikuunsai’s mastery is evident in the sculpture’s negative space. Like a latticed fungi, the bamboo seems to be both seeping into and sprouting out of the walls. It’s gentle, airy, and somehow also looming. There’s an otherworldly, alien quality to it, and yet it feels elementary and organic. LIFE CYCLES is a gorgeous installation not to be missed.