森羅万象 (Shinrabanshō)
A forest of countless forms; all things in nature understood as one continuous field.
My work examines fleeting phenomena in the natural world as expressions of time and the ways in which we perceive it. Through sustained observation, I construct visual systems that give form to rain, clouds, moonlight, mist, and seasonal transition across painting, sculpture, installation, and artist books. These observations become a means of reflecting on our own passage through the world.
Central to my practice is the Japanese aesthetic and philosophical concept of mono no aware, an attunement to the quiet poignancy of fleeting things. Seasonal language and historical nature-based calendars, including the seventy-two microseasons, provide enduring systems for observing temporal change.
Materials and form are guided by this inquiry. I work with aluminum, indigo, silver, and washi for their capacity to register light, atmosphere, and duration. Their physical properties allow environmental conditions and the movement of the viewer to remain active within the work. In this way, material extends sustained observation into physical form.
Language functions structurally within my practice. Bilingual titles draw upon historically attested seasonal vocabulary and naming traditions that encode distinctions of weather, season, and time. Raised between Northern California and a Buddhist temple in Japan, I have often lived within Japanese culture while also being perceived outside of it.This perspective has shaped my sustained practice of observation.