Bronze and organic materials are enmeshed together in striking collaborations, as well as celebrated individually. Grasses and twigs are woven, stitched and tied, while forms drawn from the ephemeral natural world find permanence in solid metal. Fierce and Fragile brings together Robyn Neild and Kazuhito Takadoi in an exploration of nature, material and transformation.
For Kazuhito Takadoi, nature is both inspiration and source material. Drawing on the woodland surrounding his birthplace of Nagoya, he grows and hand-picks grasses, leaves and twigs, allowing the materials themselves to determine the character of each work. His hawthorn sculptures are made from twigs gathered from a nearby farm, cleaned, de-thorned and left to dry for a year before being patiently bound with linen twine. Nothing is artificially coloured; the materials are dried, woven, stitched or tied in their natural state. Through this slow process, Kazuhito intervenes in the cycle of growth and decay, preserving materials that would otherwise disappear. In Tsumujikaze | Whirlwind, one hundred encapsulated and gilded hawthorn leaves sit within a large hawthorn structure, casting shifting shadows that intertwine with those of the twigs as the light and the viewer’s position change.
Through their contrasting approaches, weight and lightness, permanence and ephemerality, fragility and strength are brought into close dialogue, revealing the natural world as something simultaneously delicate, resilient and constantly transforming.
Having trained in Fashion Design at Middlesex University, Robyn worked as a fashion illustrator for Vogue, Elle, Harrods and Harvey Nichols before turning to sculpture after moving to the Kent coast.
Kazuhito trained in Agriculture and Horticulture in Japan, the US and the UK before studying Art and Garden Design. In 2019 he received a Special Mention at the Loewe Craft Prize, and his work is included in the Toshiba Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.