SONE Yutaka: Last Night of the Stone Age "Three Stories of Today"（TOKYO）

Mizuma Art Gallery is pleased to present Last Night of the Stone Age “Three Stories of Today” by SONE Yutaka, commencing on Wednesday the 15th of January 2025. The artist has bases of activity around the world but has primarily been creating in Kagawa Prefecture in recent years. This will be Sone’s first solo exhibition at the gallery since his two-person show with AIDA Makoto in 2022.

 

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Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia invaded Ukraine, and when conflict erupted between Israel and Gaza, I found myself reflecting on the end of one era and the unfavourable future of a new one. It was then that I began acting as somewhat of a keeper of the mountain at Washinoyama in Kagawa, where a tuff quarry with columnar joints closed 30 years ago. My task was to extract and carry stones down from the abandoned quarry once again and carve them.

 

To begin with, I decided to carve in stone a landscape of the very method of creating something with what is there, in the absence of tools or really anything. This was, in essence, a bricolage landscape (Double Log no. 3).

 

Since I identify strongly with the snow leopard, I have occasionally used the title “snow leopard” in my work since around 1997 or created installations on islands where snow leopards might live, independent of the internal themes of the works. For me, the snow leopard is a solitary creature that lives in the Himalayas, avoids groups, and never encounters humans. When I imagine it resting peacefully in a safe, sunny places, it fills me with joy. Looking back, I realise I’ve likely wanted to create this snow leopard piece for a very long time (Snow Leopard).

 

As I became like the guardian of the mountain, I also came to realise how little I knew about it. So, with the intention of learning even a little more, I decided to sculpt the entire mountain (Washinoyama and its Columnar Joints).

 

Although 30 years may not seem like a long time, those years have been filled with my thoughts, along with the challenges of creating and living in new places and deepening my understanding of them. However, my anger toward the chaos of the present world remains unchanged.

 

 

(Works on display)

 

Bricolage landscape: Double Log no. 3

A creation long desired: Snow Leopard

To become the guardian of the mountain: Washinoyama and its Columnar Joints

 

SONE Yutaka

November 2024

 

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We hope you will take this opportunity to unravel Sone’s current perspectives.