Lot 1541: IKKI MIYAKE

IKKI MIYAKE
(B. 1973)
YOGA- the Embodiment of Tree (Vriksha- asana)
bronze sculpture
72 x 48 x 286.5 cm. (28 3/8 x 18 7/8 x 112 7/8 in.)
edition 2/5
Executed in 2009

Private Collection, Asia

Eastern standard of beauty has for many years been in their passive elegance in which Ikki Miyake exaggerated into the delicately elongated female physique. Adopting a western sculptural execution of a bronze over his prior medium of wood in YOGA-the Embodiment of Tree (Virksha-asan) (Lot 1541), the amiable warmth remains unchanged and is rather boldly expressed through new characteristics of the bronze; the tangibly seductive gloss and its grandeur stature amplify our sensory nerves together with the physical intimacy invoking an overall modernized sensuality. Deliberately utilized for its durability in allowing him to echo the vertically stretched figurines of Alberto Giacometti, Miyake subtly extends the arms, hips and legs out of their human proportions to demonstrate the practiced consciousness and physical awareness of yoga.

The smooth, simple form of extended arms and firmly rooted feet of the Virksha-asan posture is materialized in aesthetic and material balance to reflect Miyake's endeavor to portray "A tree growing straight heavenward gives me a profound inspiration. I perceive the view of life in it. Especially, I place the focus the verticality of a tree on YOGA-the embodiment of treeas a connection between the earth and the sky. This work expresses, as it were, PRANA (vital force) embodied from the YOGA pose of a tree." Grounding his conceptual fundamentals on existentialism, Miyake roams between the earth and the sky; and birth and death, aspiring to find liberation from all worldly suffering. He aptly blends both yoga and Giacometti's shared belief in seeking for a sense of presence/reality, and cultivating/contemplating the mind. Assuming Giacometti's metaphorical composition in presenting life and death, he self-heals with a sense of presence found through yoga. Through this humble artistic approach, Miyake questions deeper philosophies than its modest visual language, revealing his devotion towards the passive eloquence of eastern aesthetics.