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New Fantastic Sculptures Made of Layered Skateboards by Haroshi

Tokyo-based artist Haroshi is known for layering recycled skateboard decks to produce mosaic sculptures. Now, he's back with more incredible creations. They're for his solo exhibition titled Still Pushing Despite the Odds that opens on February 19 at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York City. This isn't the first time we've marveled at Haroshi's works, and as always we're fascinated by what he can produce with the stacks of laminated wood.

For this latest show, Haroshi incorporates objects of low-technology from the early to mid 1900s. Neon signs, dental utensils, and roller skates are fashioned using an assortment of tools likes chisels and Japanese carving instruments. He's meticulously arranged the many, many skate decks, and this precision yields beautiful patterns and small, colorful lines that flow through each piece like thread.

Although you can't always tell, Haroshi includes every part of the old skateboards in his work. The metallic bits are often placed in the center of the sculpture to signify its “soul.” This mimics the Japanese tradition of sculpting Great Buddhas. Unkei, a master sculptor in 12th Century Japan, used to place a crystal called Shin-gachi-rin in the position of the statue's heart as a symbol of its soul.

Still Pushing Despite the Odds is on view through March 21 of this year.

Haroshi website
via [Spoon & Tamago]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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