Wednesday 5 November 2014

Junko Mori

As part of the 3D week I decided to look at artists that worked in different ways to those which I have previously looked at. Having never really worked with metal myself before I found the work of Junko Mori to be extremely interesting. Many of the shapes Mori creates look like natural organic forms that are at odds with the metal they are made from and I find this juxtaposition creates beautiful pieces of work. It is easy to see and appreciate how much time Junko Mori must spend on each of her pieces with each individual part of steel being worked into the desired shape by hammering with hand and then forged together to create the overall piece.
 
Junko Mori forged steel piece

Although Junko Mori does not plan her pieces out totally the process is often more experimental and unconscious than that, they are based on various elements of the natural world. Mori looks to the natural world for inspiration in her sketchbook and bases her pieces on the drawings. The piece Super Jumbo is made from a series of repeated organic shapes which was based on the earthquake and tsunami in her hometown of Japan in 2011. I particularly like the way the piece is shaped as it resembles a huge wave of water and despite being made out of steel, one of the most solid materials, it has a look of fluidity to it that makes it so interesting to look at.
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Super Jumbo by Junko Mori in forged steel
 
As well as the above larger scale steel pieces Junko Mori also creates smaller ones made from precious metals like silver and to pay for these materials and processes her work must be quite expensive to produce and buy. If each piece is uniquely made up of hundreds of individually hand forged pieces Mori must spend a lot of time on them and the level of skill and finish on them is extremely high so it is likely that they would be quite expensive.
 
A Silver Organism by Junko Mori in forged silver
 

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