Phase - Mother Earth 2008

Nobuo Sekine made this sculpture, called Phase - Mother Earth, using earth. I find myself wondering about the process, the act of excavating and reforming the earth. The sculpture consists of a cylinder of earth standing next to a negative space in the ground where the earth was taken from. He must have been thinking about how to create something, but also about the relationship between positive and negative, presence and absence. It reminds me of some land art from the late 60s, early 70s, and makes me think about the impact of humanity on the landscape, and how we shape the world around us. The artist has an idea, an intention, and then there's the labor, the physicality of shifting all that earth. There's a dialogue here, between the artist and the materials, between the sculpture and the landscape, that invites us to contemplate our own relationship with the earth. And perhaps, to consider our impact on it.