Heart of the Tree
PHOTO CREDIT: CHIKA KOBARI @Kinosaito / SOPHIA ELIZABETH @BBG
Year: 2023-24
Size: H90" W56" D56"
Medium: welded steel, stainless steel, brass, bronze, hand-blown glass
"I grew up interpreting trees as spirits or humans like myself. The personification or deification of nature is fundamental in Japanese mythology and Shintoism. The Heart of the Tree offers the presence of a pumping or broken heart or rooted tree or female figure, with colored glass fruits and IV drips feeding a new sprout within itself. It is fruiting and empowering while trying to recuperate from damage and alarming us. I took the title from the poem by Henry Bunner, which expresses what it means to plant a tree for a community.”
Kinosaito Art Center, Verplanck, NY (5/11-12/13, 2024)
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, NY (6/17-10/24, 2023)
Size: H90" W56" D56"
Medium: welded steel, stainless steel, brass, bronze, hand-blown glass
"I grew up interpreting trees as spirits or humans like myself. The personification or deification of nature is fundamental in Japanese mythology and Shintoism. The Heart of the Tree offers the presence of a pumping or broken heart or rooted tree or female figure, with colored glass fruits and IV drips feeding a new sprout within itself. It is fruiting and empowering while trying to recuperate from damage and alarming us. I took the title from the poem by Henry Bunner, which expresses what it means to plant a tree for a community.”
Kinosaito Art Center, Verplanck, NY (5/11-12/13, 2024)
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, NY (6/17-10/24, 2023)
What Is Your Name?
Collaborative Socially Engaged Project with Visual Artist, Haksul Lee
2020
Size: H 6’ W 3’ D 3’
Material: Paper, steel, aluminum
LaGuardia Airport, Queens, NY / Japan Society / The City College of New York / Immigrant Artist Biennial
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2014
Size: H 13 W 15 L 18 feet
Material: Steel tubes, cast resin, acrylic panels
Window is a colorful, interactive sculpture with a functional swing that stimulates viewers' sensory and physical perceptions. I deliberately used the word "window" to symbolize our perceptions. Viewers can look in and out through the clear and translucent acrylic windows on a vessel-like sculpture. Reddish hues contrast with the cityscape. The swing motion travels between the colorful interior environment and the landscape, creating a sensation of moving in and out of the spaces.
"Window" was commissioned by the Model to Monument public art program by The Art Students League of NY, and The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
Window II |
Rye Town Park and Beach, Rye, NY / Jun 2019 - Nov 2020
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2019-2022
Size: H 10' W 11' L 12.5'
Material: stainless steel, steel, paint, fabric, acrylic
Peggy Roalf, chief editor of AI-AP magazine, reviewed, “Window II also looks like a giant plaything—so irresistible that I found myself inside of it and flying through the air within minutes of seeing it last fall.”
An Instagram user commented, “Window II has the ability to send me to an alternative reality, one that operates on joy and harmony, not fear and hate. Thank you from the bottom of my heart”.
Size: H 10' W 11' L 12.5'
Material: stainless steel, steel, paint, fabric, acrylic
Peggy Roalf, chief editor of AI-AP magazine, reviewed, “Window II also looks like a giant plaything—so irresistible that I found myself inside of it and flying through the air within minutes of seeing it last fall.”
An Instagram user commented, “Window II has the ability to send me to an alternative reality, one that operates on joy and harmony, not fear and hate. Thank you from the bottom of my heart”.
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PHOTO CREDIT: Materials for the Arts
Confession |
West Harlem 132nd Street Community Garden, 2020
Currently at Oeno Gallery Sculpture Garden, Ontario, Canada |
2020
Size: H62" W29" L72"
Medium: steel, stainless steel, composite wood
“Confession” takes the form of a reclining chair where visitors can lie down and relax, reflecting and having an intimate conversation with themselves. It seems to be a nicely designed reclining chair at first glance, and when they lie down on it, they find themselves reflected in a convex mirror that cannot be seen from other angles. While in an open public space, viewers can be absorbed in a private self-reflecting moment, juxtaposing the self-image against the surroundings, such as trees in the garden and the sky: they are physically out in public, but mentally slipping into their internal visions. The concept of the work was inspired by the “Window” series.
Size: H62" W29" L72"
Medium: steel, stainless steel, composite wood
“Confession” takes the form of a reclining chair where visitors can lie down and relax, reflecting and having an intimate conversation with themselves. It seems to be a nicely designed reclining chair at first glance, and when they lie down on it, they find themselves reflected in a convex mirror that cannot be seen from other angles. While in an open public space, viewers can be absorbed in a private self-reflecting moment, juxtaposing the self-image against the surroundings, such as trees in the garden and the sky: they are physically out in public, but mentally slipping into their internal visions. The concept of the work was inspired by the “Window” series.
Wish Garden
2021
H 84" W 48" L 32"
Steel, table top, mirror, various commercial products
Visitors are invited to write their wishes about themselves and others on a piece of paper, then hang it on the sculpture. I questioned what's between the individual and communal wishes, how and where we wish something daily. The wishes were celebrated and burned in a ceremony after the exhibition.
TEXT on paper:
You might wish for something everyday: write it down to visualize, verbalize, and realize it.
Make a wish for yourself:
Make a wish for others:
H 84" W 48" L 32"
Steel, table top, mirror, various commercial products
Visitors are invited to write their wishes about themselves and others on a piece of paper, then hang it on the sculpture. I questioned what's between the individual and communal wishes, how and where we wish something daily. The wishes were celebrated and burned in a ceremony after the exhibition.
TEXT on paper:
You might wish for something everyday: write it down to visualize, verbalize, and realize it.
Make a wish for yourself:
Make a wish for others:
Copyright © 2026 Natsuki Takauji All rights reserved.