The Aesthetics of Decay: Explorations through Wood and Clay

I have an interest in art that bears the hallmarks of memory, decay and imperfections, particularly brutalist sculptures which explore questions about the passage of time and about nature and our existential dependence on it. Such artworks may not be eye candy to everyone. They are not made to please; they are typically monochrome and lack fancy decorations. But to those with a more philosophical bent, they will reward your senses in powerful ways. You cannot help but wonder the emotions the artist is trying to embody in the materials, be it wood, stone or rusted metal. Is it a relic of a monument long gone, or a miniature tomb of an ancient god, or perhaps an image of the god itself? Are the cracks and breaks places of darkness or places where the light enters in? I am drawn to these enigmatic pieces like I am drawn to something profound. Their opaque presence compells me to take a deeper look. I want to run my fingers over them, feel their roughness, and puzzle over their significance, the way one is drawn to unsolved riddles. Words have limitations when describing this kind of art. Better to feast with your eyes and feel with your soul.

Levi Hawken’s wood sculpture, ‘False Idol’ is an modern abstraction of the kind of figurative sculptures made by archaic societies as vessels to hold memories of ancestors.

Lucien Petit, ‘Extrusion Square’, wood. The work of French sculptor Lucien Petit are inspired by the essence of all architecture in probing the binary opposites of full and empty, form and counter-form.

Alban Lanore, ‘Stele’, brushed teak sculpture on steel base. Alban Lanore’s sculptures often blur the line between nature and the man-made, a reminder that we are part of nature; it is not something that is outside of us.

David Umemoto, ‘Cube’, wood. In this intriguing sculpture, the stairs lead to a void and walls rise to nothing, poking fun at the absurdity of what humans sometimes do.

Brigette Marionneau, ‘Enclose the Wind.’ stoneware. Marionneau is a French ceramicist who creates enigmatic clay sculptures that examine the link between past and present such as this piece which looks ancient and modern at the same time.

Born in Hyogo, Japan in 1977, Kozuo Takeuchi is a ceramicist working on the cutting edge of ceramics, using architectural forms to explore the theme of decay, the passage of time and the consequences of all things man-made. Here are examples of his works in stoneware and porcelain, from his Modern Remains series.