Versatile Bamboo, an Appreciation
The Japanese have used bamboo to make functional containers like baskets and flower vases for centuries, but it was not until the 1950s that bamboo artists started making purely sculptural pieces. “New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters,” an exhibition of about 90 of those sculptures, opens Oct. 4 at the Japan Society.
It “shows how a traditional craft can rapidly transform itself using the sculptural qualities inherit in the ancient weaving process,” said Joe Earle, the director of the Japan Society Gallery and the curator of the show. “The new forms are as unexpected as they are beautiful.”
They include both airy and dense shapes, many of which recall natural forms like flames or waves. The 34-inch-tall “Knot III” (2006), left, by Honma Hideaki, was made with a mat weave bamboo edged in rattan strips.
The show, which runs through Jan. 11, is at 333 East 47th Street (First Avenue). For information: (212) 832-1155 or japansociety.org.
More Articles in Home & Garden » A version of this article appeared in print on September 25, 2008, on page F3 of the New York edition.