Azuma Makoto, a Japanese artist who runs a high-end flower shop — the Jardins Des Fleurs — in a trendy neighborhood in Tokyo, just held a new exhibition of his beautiful plant sculptures called Collapsible Leaves. Indeed, the exhibition title is apt: Makoto carefully manipulates thousands of leaves, twisting and turning them into biomorphic sculptures defined by their forms and rich textures.
He likes ball shapes but also creates larger amoebas.
Makoto uses different plant leaves to create astounding visual effects. Waxy leaves organized into concentric rings reflect the light, presenting a vortex of plant life.
Plants with lighter tones look like woven baskets — but in their original green form.
Makoto’s earlier work, as noted by the design blog, This Is Colossal, is just as great. In Leaf Man, we see a man seemingly becoming a plant. It’s like something out of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
In Botanical Sculpture #3 Lump, Makoto introduces mechanical objects into his hanging plant sculptures, perhaps exploring the idea of the mechanisms of nature at work. In any case, the contrasting materials in his impermanent work are evocative.
His latest exhibition is now on in the Gyre gallery in Omotesando, Tokyo.
Image credits: Azuma Makoto
Modern topiary. Didn’t like it then, don’t like it now. Plant contortion. Ugh.