Il Coso, i.e., 'the thing', is a sculpture that deliberately avoids representing anything attributable to culture to blur the boundary between nature and human-made artefacts.

The purpose was to revive people's wonder about the natural world. The piece of wood was carved and painted using traditional Japanese techniques called Udukuri and Tsugaru-nuri that emphasise the grain of the wood.

While working on this piece, several people passing by told me what they thought it represented. I took note of what their thoughts and used them as indicators of what I should steer away from to keep the object 'a thing'. This allowed me to create something in collaboration with other people but also to ensure that it did not represent anything that can be easily linked back to the human world.

This sculpture was made at Boisbuchet during a workshop conducted by Joe Nagasaka.

2018