David Umemoto : Interconnections

Name: David Umemoto : Interconnections
Start: 2024-11-09T15:00:00-05:00
End: 2024-11-09T17:00:00-05:00
Location: 5826 rue St-Hubert, Montreal, QC, Canada, Quebec H2S 2L7

Schedule

Sat Nov 09 2024 at 03:00 pm to 05:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

5826 rue St-Hubert, Montreal, QC, Canada, Quebec H2S 2L7 | Montreal, QC

Du 9 novembre au 21 décembre 2024
Vernissage : Le samedi 9 novembre 2024 de 15 h à 17 h
David Umemoto : Interconnections
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November 9 – December 21, 2024
Reception: Saturday, November 9, 2024 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
David Umemoto: Interconnections
Text by Rebecca Johnson
David Umemoto transforms concrete structures into fantastical worlds by reinterpreting recognizable architectural forms. Staircases, archways, corridors, and ramps are miniaturized, inverted, flipped, and compiled into unfamiliar and labyrinthic arrangements. While the resulting sculptures are imposing and monumental, due to their solid concrete composition, they are also open and airy, inviting viewers to visually traverse them.
Beginning from a 2-dimensional drawing with a definitive vantage point, Umemoto constructs 3-dimensional spaces that can be accessed and discovered from multiple possible angles. Our relationship with the sculptures becomes altered as we explore the purposely placed openings, closed flat surfaces, and unintentional yet expected cracks and bubbles. Umemoto strategically creates his works by hand, from cutting the polystyrene casts to pouring in the mixed concrete. Every step of the process is intentionally manual and thus rooted in a rejection of technology. He aims instead to celebrate the accessibility of creating art by using economical and readily available tools and materials.
Umemoto’s works reflect directly on the act of human intervention by bridging his artistic practices with the complex patterns that are biologically produced in the wild. Initially inspired by the rock formations in American deserts, Umemoto has remained interested in the algorithms appearing in nature. He contradicts the mechanical characteristics of architecture by experimenting with plant-based, vegetal forms. In one sculpture we see a series of stairs, walls, and windows extend out from the centre structure in branches. While remaining architecturally coded, Umemoto reimagines these configurations in calculated and organic ways.
In Interconnections, there is a particular emphasis on this idea of transformation. Some of the sculptures are casted in multiple pieces and compiled in the gallery space, serving both pragmatic and ideological purposes. These components can either exist as their own sculptures – in dialogue with their counterparts – or, be balanced together in larger compositions. Embracing the possibility of multiple arrangements, Umemoto’s sculptures compel us to contemplate the notion of scale. While they are at once sturdy and grounded, some also appear as if they could seemingly topple over. These ideas of fluidity and change, conveyed in solid concrete forms, force us to challenge our perception of the permanence of the world around us.
Umemoto’s art has long reflected the ephemerality of human-made interjections existing within nature. Déambulatoire X, for instance, showcases large, open archways and stairs that appear rusticated and eroded. While this piece was the accidental result of the concrete mix not filling the entirety of the mold, he welcomes the error as a pivotal part – or transformative possibility – of his artistic practice. Like an ancient ruin decayed and fragmented, his work reflects the passing of time and the impact of natural elements on human infrastructure.