STANDING PINE

STANDING PINE Tokyo is pleased to present “The Forest Beyond, Under My Feet — place / wire”, a solo exhibition by Takayuki Suzuki, opening Saturday, 17 January 2026.

Based in Japan’s mountainous regions, Takayuki Suzuki quietly explores the connections from place to place, and thing to thing, while observing the subtle shifts in nature that lie hidden within the everyday landscape.

The unseen contours of forests and mountains; the rain droplets before our eyes; the flow of water that leads, inevitably, to landscapes beyond our immediate reach. In this exhibition, Suzuki reflects on relationships that extend beyond perception. Taking as his premise that seeing is not all-powerful, he invites us to imagine what lies far from the scene before us, and to reconsider the act of “looking” itself as an expanded mode of attention.

How does an everyday gaze, so casually cast, recompose fragments of the world, revealing traces of connection that might otherwise remain unseen? Suzuki’s question begins under our feet as we stand before his works.

Date: Saturday, 17 January – Saturday, 14 February
Hours: 12:00 – 18:00 (From Tuesday to Saturday)
Closed on Sundays, Mondays, and national holidays
Opening reception: Saturday, 17 January, 17:00 – 19:00 (artist in attendance)

In collaboration with: Gallery HAM

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Artist Statement

The Forest Beyond, Under My Feet — place / wire

Follow the river upstream, and a forest awaits.
Trace its flow downward, and eventually, the sea comes into view.
Water gathers into rivers and journeys toward the ocean.

Water source conservation.

How many people recognise this unfamiliar phrase, or give it thought in their daily lives?
The forest in our distant gaze stores water in vast amounts, moderating its flow.
While a mountain stripped to rock may be visually arresting, its lack of soil allows water to run off quickly, increasing the risk of flooding downstream.
In contrast, forests with thick, fertile soil and healthy tree growth retain water like sponges—slowly, steadily, letting it permeate underground. Here, the flow is regulated, unseen.
This underground phenomenon, largely invisible to the eye, refers to the capacity of forest and woodland soil to retain and regulate water, a process known as the water source conservation function. It offers a subtly thought-provoking sense of connection between upstream and downstream.
Moreover, within this flow of water, the finer elements of the forest also come into view: the individual trees and plant roots.
Beneath the surface, roots spread out and anchor the soil, helping to prevent disasters such as landslides upstream.
Soil that does not wash away. Roots that hold firm. Earth that steadily retains what has settled.
These states of stability reveal once again the deep connection between the forest and the areas downstream.
Even within a single stretch of landscape, from mountain to sea, one senses how our living environment rests within a delicate and interwoven balance.

This may not seem like the usual subject of “visual art.” And yet, I believe it contains the very questions that surround how we “see.”
From what we see, what kinds of spaces, places, and interrelations between things do we truly perceive? And more fundamentally, what is it that our eyes are actually seeing?

Given Japan's limited land area, it seems inevitable that many people build their homes in the open spaces of the lower river valleys.
And precisely because the land is narrow, mountains are often visible in the distance.
The forest visible far off evokes the unseen flow of water beneath our feet.
The moon above constantly exerts an influence on where we stand, while tracing its own slow path.
Ocean trenches and earthquakes, celestial bodies and the pull of tides—even what we cannot see shifts the ground beneath us.

Might the act of seeing, too, hold within it the capacity to imagine, and to sense places and things far beyond our immediate reach?
Within this living space, sculpture too shares that space, quietly “seeing” the connections that emerge between them.

Takayuki Suzuki

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

「sculpture -41」/ 2024 /iron、mortar / 150×150×550mm

Powered by Froala Editor