Salt Sculptor

Artist Motoi Yamamoto creates captivating and intricate mazes, stairs and other installations using salt.

From Yumi Yamaguchi (2005)...

The origin of his encounter with salt goes back to the winter of 1994. When he was 24, his beloved sister passed away. The experience of sorrow and surprise that came from the sudden loss and absence of somebody precious, led him to the creation of a series of works using salt. Salt is used in many special rituals in Japan. Invested in Yamamoto's work is a service for the repose of his sister's soul.

I spent over an hour this morning looking through Yamamoto's site, watching videos of him creating his art and trying to figure out where and when I can see one of his installations.

Beautiful, precision, haunting, transitory, serene all come to mind.



Hi-Fructose has an excellent interview with Yamamoto in which he describes his art and its connection to his sister's death.