Expo

Modern Shapes Gallery presents new “Folded Stone” series by David Umemoto.

EXHIBITION
MARCH 04 - MARCH 28

MODERN SHAPES GALLERY
Museumstraat 29 - 2000 Antwerpen

-> DISCOVER A SELECTION OF WORKS HERE

At the start of the crisis, having been deprived of access to his studio for several months like everyone else, he had to put my usual practice on hold and find alternatives to creation. The choice to work with paper came quite naturally as he was already doing all of his exploratory work of sculpture by hand on squared paper. The main challenge he set for himself in this series was to create three-dimensional objects using only a square sheet of paper, without loss, without additions and without glue, like the Japanese “kirigami”. This forces one to imagine the pieces in 3 dimensions in space and in 2 dimensions on paper at the same time, which is a very formative mental gymnastics.

“My concrete work is done in the mass. I usually start with a theoretical prism from which I remove matter.  The process with paper is totally different since it is surface work. I start with a generally square sheet that I cut and fold.  In this new “Folded Stones” series, I try to position myself halfway through this mass-surface duality. “

Canadian artist David Umemoto (1975) balances on the line between sculpture and architecture. He began his career as an architect. For years, he worked on architectural projects, but gradually gained an interest in working on a smaller scale, namely creating objects. A year in Indonesia officially steered him in a different direction, when he shifted his focus from architecture to sculpture. 

Nowadays, David Umemoto's sleek concrete sculptures of buildings and monuments push the envelope of perfection in both disciplines: stairs lead nowhere and walls stop in the wrong place. The architectural elements of the buildings are difficult to place. In the beginning of his career, Umemoto’s mysterious objects were inspired by the architecture and primitive arts of Africa, Polynesia and North and South America. Gradually the art of Giorgio de Chirico, Giovanni Battista Piranesi and M.C. Escher became important sources of inspiration to David Umemoto.