{"id":13183,"date":"2025-08-05T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/botanical-sculptures-by-mona-sugata-grow-from-untreated-cotton-fabric-and-slow-gestures\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T16:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T09:30:00","slug":"botanical-sculptures-by-mona-sugata-grow-from-untreated-cotton-fabric-and-slow-gestures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/botanical-sculptures-by-mona-sugata-grow-from-untreated-cotton-fabric-and-slow-gestures\/","title":{"rendered":"botanical sculptures by mona sugata grow from untreated cotton fabric and slow gestures"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wow wow-yellow\">mona sugata\u2019s botanical sculptures dwell in quiet flows of life<\/h2>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mona Sugata\u2019s intricate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/sculpture\/\"><strong>sculptures<\/strong><\/a> are made from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/textile-and-fabric-art\/\"><strong>cotton fabric<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/thread-art-and-installations\/\"><strong>thread<\/strong><\/a>, glue, and pigment, materials that hold traces of fragility, heat, and breath. Shaped into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/flower-and-leaf-art\/\"><strong>botanical forms<\/strong><\/a> and infused with an otherworldly quality, her works feel alive in a surreal way. In her latest exhibition, What Resonates Through Us \u2014 Echoes in Overtones, on view at Galerie Ovo in Taipei from August 22nd to September 6th, 2025, Sugata presents a series of installations that extend her ongoing exploration of living systems, unseen presences, and the subtle conditions that allow life to take shape.<em> \u2018I imagine them as relics quietly resting in an ancient monastery, holding a sacred presence,\u2019 <\/em><strong>she reveals about her pieces.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018My installations do not try to speak too much,\u2019<\/em> <strong>she remarks during our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/art-interviews\/\">discussion<\/a>.<\/strong><em> \u2018They are quietly placed with space, light, air, and subtle presence so that the viewer may encounter their own sense of life and the quiet sensations within.\u2019<\/em> The works do not represent plants in a literal way, but they reflect Sugata\u2019s close attention to the movements and structures of plants growing in her own garden, particularly the forms of stems and the gestures of growth that seem to carry vitality. Her observations are translated into symbolic organisms, gradually taking on a bodily quality and sometimes resembling intelligent life.<\/p>\n<p>all images courtesy of Mona Sugata | Tree of Life \u2014 A Planet of Playing Beings<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wow wow-yellow\">delicate forms rooted in sacred cycles<\/h2>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.monasugataapplique.com\/\"><strong>Japanese artist<\/strong> <\/a>Mona Sugata works with untreated cotton, glue, and diluted pigments, allowing the fabric to absorb and bleed color. Once dry, the pieces are shaped and detailed using a heated iron tool to burn fine vein-like lines into the surface. <em>\u2018This is the moment when life begins to inhabit the work,\u2019<\/em> <strong>she tells designboom.<\/strong> Sugata avoids coating or overworking the surface in order to preserve the softness of the materials and the natural shifts in tone, resulting in a surface that feels more like something in a slow state of becoming instead of a finished object.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Pillar of Prayer Kumade and Pillar of Prayer Purple Star, some of her latest works, are rooted in the Japanese jichinsai, a ceremony performed before construction, where offerings are made to the local land deity. The artist imagines these sculptures as vertical structures that remain after such a ceremony, linking the land and its inhabitants. The ceramic base represents the land god, while the plant forms growing from it reflect a relationship of coexistence, between what is built and what is already there. <em>\u2018It expresses the idea of sacred plants living on the god of the land and living in beautiful coexistence,\u2019<\/em> <strong>Sugata notes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tree of Life \u2014 A Planet of Playing Beings, installed at the atrium of the Spiral art center in Tokyo, reflects Sugata\u2019s idea of the Earth as an active field shaped by invisible beings, bacteria, insects, and other non-human lives. <em>\u2018Even after death, life becomes part of other beings, undergoing a perpetual cycle of rebirth and rebirth,\u2019<\/em> <strong>she says.<\/strong> The work evokes these cycles through layered organic forms that spiral outward in motion, resembling a kind of visual system for life as play, disappearance, and return.<\/p>\n<p>reflecting Sugata\u2019s idea of the Earth<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wow wow-yellow\">A Practice Shaped by Sensitivity and Direct Contact<\/h2>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sugata\u2019s approach is shaped by physical sensitivity rather than strict planning. She adjusts the process depending on the direction of each piece, working by feel rather than concept. <em>\u2018If I feel tension or resistance in my body, I take it as a sign that something is off,\u2019<\/em> <strong>she explains.<\/strong> The final step, using the iron to create form, is done by hand and involves direct contact with heat, often leading to burns. Still, she treats these traces as part of the work itself, as reminders of material resistance, timing, and repetition.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mona Sugata was born in Tokyo in 1983 and studied printmaking at Tama Art University. That background still informs her handling of surface and tone, but her installations move away from printed images into something more spatial and responsive. <em>\u2018My works are not for interpretation,\u2019<\/em> <strong>she highlights.<\/strong> <em>\u2018They are for quiet encounters.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sugata hopes viewers will encounter something of their own in her work.<em> \u2018In such stillness,\u2019<\/em> <strong>she reflects,<\/strong><em> \u2018one might sense a deeper connection, with the world, with others. And in that resonance, I too receive something essential.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>an active field shaped by invisible beings, bacteria, insects, and other non-human lives<\/p>\n<p>Mona Sugata works with untreated cotton, glue, and diluted pigments<\/p>\n<p>a kind of visual system for life as play, disappearance, and return<\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- CLOSE ARTICLE CONTENT --><\/p>\n<div class=\"fullwidth-image\">\n<div class=\"layout-box\">\n<div class=\"page-content\">\n<p>layered organic forms spiral outward in motion<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>\t<!-- OPEN ARTICLE CONTENT -->\t<\/p>\n<p>Midday Moon (left) sits closer to abstraction<\/p>\n<p>inspired by the pale yellow moon sometimes visible during daylight<\/p>\n<p>Pillar of Prayer Kumade and Pillar of Prayer Purple Star are rooted in the Japanese jichinsai<\/p>\n<p>the artist imagines these sculptures as vertical structures that remain after a ceremony<\/p>\n<p>the plant forms reflect a relationship of coexistence<\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- CLOSE ARTICLE CONTENT --><\/p>\n<div class=\"fullwidth-image\">\n<div class=\"layout-box\">\n<div class=\"page-content\">\n<p>the pieces are shaped and detailed using a heated iron tool<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>\t<!-- OPEN ARTICLE CONTENT -->\t<\/p>\n<p>the artist burns fine, vein-like lines into the surface<\/p>\n<p>Sugata avoids coating or overworking the surface in order to preserve the softness of the materials<\/p>\n<p>a surface that feels like something in a state of becoming<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>project info:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>artist:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monasugataapplique.com\/\">Mona Sugata<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/monasugata\">@monasugata<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>exhibition:<\/strong> What Resonates Through Us \u2014 Echoes in Overtones<\/p>\n<p><strong>location:<\/strong> Galerie Ovo, Taipei, Taiwan | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/galerieovo\/\">@galerieovo<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>dates:<\/strong> August 22nd to September 6th, 2025<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/art\/botanical-sculptures-mona-sugata-untreated-cotton-fabric-slow-gestures-interview-08-05-2025\/\">botanical sculptures by mona sugata grow from untreated cotton fabric and slow gestures<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/\">designboom | architecture &amp; design magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>mona sugata\u2019s botanical sculptures dwell in quiet flows of life \u00a0 Mona Sugata\u2019s intricate sculptures are made from cotton fabric, thread, glue, and pigment, materials that hold traces of fragility, heat, and breath. Shaped into &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>botanical sculptures by mona sugata grow from untreated cotton fabric and slow gestures - Blog TSK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cstc.vn\/blogtsk\/botanical-sculptures-by-mona-sugata-grow-from-untreated-cotton-fabric-and-slow-gestures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"botanical sculptures by mona sugata grow from untreated cotton fabric and slow gestures - Blog TSK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"mona sugata\u2019s botanical sculptures dwell in quiet flows of life \u00a0 Mona Sugata\u2019s intricate sculptures are made from cotton fabric, thread, glue, and pigment, materials that hold traces of fragility, heat, and breath. 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