Yutaka Sone, David Zwirner Gallery

Yutaka Sone’s use of marble is surprisingly unique. When we think of marble we usually associate it with the Renaissance, Michelangelo’s David, Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers in Rome, or even the great empires of Egypt, Greece and Rome. Japanese artist Yutaka Sone manipulates marble in a different way, though he stays within the traditional category of sculpture, attempting to achieve what sculptors of the Renaissance did before him - Idealism. Opening at the David Zwirner Gallery this November,  this is Sone’s first solo show in Britain.

Trained initially as an architect, Yutaka Sone is a visionary with an obsessive attention to detail. His Little Manhattan (2007-2009) piece will be included in the exhibition. The marble work is 8-foot long miniature of the Manhattan, the concrete jungle. To create this work, Sone employed several helicopter shots over the city and the process took a lengthy 2 years to create. Sone’s Manhattan seems to hover, like a floating, heavenly utopian island, an unstoppable autonomous force. One can’t help but think of the Japanese animation film Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. 

Sone’s art is about seeing and experiencing something familiar in a completely new way. Little Manhattan shows us a new perspective of New York, where we can peer over it like giants. Similarly, his piece Light in Between Trees attempts to sculpt and make the tangible the light rather than real physical objects. Sone wants to demonstrate the tension between reality and idealism, it has been said he “creates sculpture to crystallize time”.

The exhibition will comprise of many of his works from over the last 10 years. He works in many mediums; crystal carving, painting, sculpture and film so expect to see a wide range of his art. 

So far, Sone has worked closely with David Zwirner and has already had 5 major solo shows in his gallery in New York.