Mayumi Sarai was born in Aichi, Japan and moved to New York City in 1991.
Artist Statement
A large portion of my work consists of an accumulation of carved wood, which is usually very simple, round forms. This obsessive repetition of the same elements is an essential part of my sculpture. My work begins with collecting broken tree branches and tree limbs. Using hand tools such as a chisel and a hammer, I carve the wood into simple, small forms and try to transform the materials into something that feels handmade and become my personal, visual language. I construct larger form by assembling small carved objects into larger form as if I put cells together.
Based on my visual memory as well as my conception of nature and simple human gesture, I often try to create sculpture that has a strong presence of life. Consequently, sometimes the material itself (wood) becomes my subject (tree). By the act of recycling material and working on it in a labor intensive way, I would like to express my perception of beauty of nature as well as a complex relation between human culture and the natural world.
-Mayumi Sarai
