• wood （Magnolia wood）
  dimensions variable
• ©SUDA Yoshihiro /Courtesy of Gallery Koyanagi

Weeds like those you might notice along the roadside seem to be “growing” in unexpected corners of the gallery. In fact, these weeds are wooden sculptures carved with such precision that they are easily mistaken for the real thing. The artist Suda is self-taught in woodcarving and has produced magnolia wood sculptures of a wide variety of plants. By discreetly installing them in easily overlooked places, he brings the space and the work into seamless unity, cultivating a subtly altered way of seeing. Suda’s practice also brings to light the respective challenges facing contemporary art and crafts. In contemporary art, an overemphasis on concept can result in works that are visually impoverished, while crafts tend to focus excessively on technique alone. His work suggests that art comes into being only when concept and technique meet in an exquisitely calibrated balance.