Modern Twist: Contemporary Japanese Bamboo Art

Modern Twist explores the evocative, sensual, and sculptural power of contemporary bamboo art. Bamboo is a quintessential part of Japanese culture, shaping the country’s social, artistic, and spiritual landscape. Although bamboo is a prolific natural resource, it is a challenging artistic medium: there are fewer than 100 professional bamboo artists in Japan today. Mastering the art form—learning how to harvest, split, and plait the bamboo—requires decades of meticulous practice. Authored by Dr. Andreas Marks, Director and Chief Curator of the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture, Hanford, California, and curator of this exhibition, Modern Twist demonstrates how, in the hands of a master bamboo artist, a simple grass is transformed into a sculptural art.