Sodium memorial

October 10, 2012 5:23 AM

Return to the Sea: Saltworks by Motoi Yamamoto
posted by Blazecock Pileon (14 comments total)

After each piece has been on view for several weeks the public is invited to communally destroy each work and help package the salt into bags and jars, after which it is thrown back into the ocean

Beautiful.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:45 AM on October 10, 2012

Colossal is such a great site for finding cool and beautiful things. Big favourite of mine ... I'd like to ask if anyone can recommend other sites that good, but is that a derail to post here?
posted by Kit W at 5:56 AM on October 10, 2012 [3 favorites]

I love Yamamoto's work. Having attempted to do an installation myself with salt, I have immense respect for the time and effort it takes to do these large scale works. One thing you won't get just by seeing these installations is the meditative qualites of working with salt or sand. When you are in the midst of the process the experience is almost overwhelming, and the world jsut seems to fade away.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 6:24 AM on October 10, 2012

Colossal is my homepage as well. I'd also be interested in hearing other suggestions. There are a bunch of websites that are pretty good that I used to follow on Reader. They're kind of hit and miss though, not as solid as Colossal.

http://www.vvork.com/
http://we-make-money-not-art.com/
http://ineedaguide.blogspot.com/
http://www.booooooom.com/
http://ilikethisart.net/
http://www.juxtapoz.com/
http://quasiumano.tumblr.com/
http://oxane.tumblr.com/
http://www.whokilledbambi.co.uk/

Assume all links contain NSFW content.
posted by nathancaswell at 6:31 AM on October 10, 2012 [7 favorites]

How does someone get recognition for making something like this? Surely he needed a gallery to give him space to make the first one, but they must have had a better reason than "He says he wants to draw a pattern and he brought his own salt."
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:52 AM on October 10, 2012 [1 favorite]

These are beautiful. I can understand how they would bring on a meditative state while working on them.
posted by arcticseal at 6:57 AM on October 10, 2012 [1 favorite]

These patterns remind me of the stable patterns that emerge when tweaking the rules for Conway's Game of Life
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:11 AM on October 10, 2012

Beautiful.

The second picture reminds me of some particular mathematical pattern, I can't recall the name of it. It's often seen in natural processes like coral growth.

Reaction-diffusion systems create such patterns.
posted by swordfishtrombones at 7:21 AM on October 10, 2012

Joe in Australia: In my case, it was an open call for a large-scale indoor installation, I had a general idea, I came in with my drawings and sketches and presented it to the gallery. I'm sure once you do this as much as this artist has, you just get invited places to do it, but that's how I got started.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:27 AM on October 10, 2012 [1 favorite]

Fractals......
posted by mule98J at 7:29 AM on October 10, 2012

Lovely, work, at once calming, moving and inspirational. Our bodies' own salt content connects us to this further on an elemental level. So much to ponder. Thanks for posting.
posted by kinnakeet at 7:42 AM on October 10, 2012

These are beautiful, ephemeral memorials. Thanks so much for posting.
posted by zarq at 7:49 AM on October 10, 2012

magnificent.
posted by mondo dentro at 8:29 AM on October 10, 2012

Motoi Yamamoto - Saltscapes. A Japanese artist travels to the salt flats of western Utah to discuss life, death, rebirth, and making art from salt.
posted by homunculus at 5:53 PM on November 6, 2012