Yoshihiro Suda

Japanese artist Yoshihiro Suda (born 1969) is internationally known for his installations of delicate carved and painted wooden plant life. Suda's sculptures of indigenous Japanese plants and flowers, including camellias, magnolias, and roses, as well as common weeds, are meticulously created with surprising realism and in true-to-life scale that at times borders on the miniscule. The artist carves these fragile pieces from magnolia wood before hand-painting them with traditional Japanese pigments to produce exact replicas of these natural flowers.

As works of installation art they are modest, effacing, and at times nearly invisible. Yet these carvings have an overwhelming presence that dominates their surroundings. His manner of exhibiting works in unexpected locations urges the viewer to rediscover the work's surrounding environment and architectures with fresh eyes and to experience spaces anew. As such there is a temporal, even performative, aspect to his artistic practice. Ultimately Suda locates significance in the moments of encounter between the environment, the sculpted form, and the viewer.