On View through January 31, 2025
Moko Fukuyama [11]
See the Forest For the Sea
Fallen timber, acrylic urethane paint, epoxy resin, inkjet print on photo paper, steel
About
Lighthouse Works is proud to announce the exhibition on Silver Eel Cove of See the Forest for the Sea, a sculpture by artist Moko Fukuyama.
See the Forest for the Sea takes inspiration from lure fishing and the ways in which fishing lures act as a conduit between the natural and built world. Fabricated in steel with elements made of salvaged lumber – felled trees sourced from various sites, including Fishers Island – the work resembles a multi-tiered tackle box. The tackle box’s three vertical “compartments” function as framing devices, each containing playful wooden sculptures that hint at lures while illuminating our ever-evolving relationship with nature.
In describing her interest in the lure as an object, Fukuyama writes: “Lure fishing is an intimate interplay between species, an attempt at understanding the sentience of the natural world. The process depends on tension, manipulation, and attraction. Personally, I cannot help but wonder what kind of consciousness is on the end of my line.”
By resuscitating fallen timber and placing it by the sea, Fukuyama not only mourns our changing environment but also celebrates nature's resilience. Each lure presented as a symbol of the reciprocal relationship between land and water, nature and humans, evokes amphibious life, and comments on our evolutionary pathway from (and potentially back to) water.
For viewers arriving by ferry to Fishers Island, the work and its combination of elements creates an almost dream-like state. In proximity to the work, one’s sense of scale and the vastness of the surrounding sea are called into question. The work also plays with the psychology behind our consumerist desires and tendencies towards ownership while conveying the importance of trees as anthropological implements.
See the Forest for the Sea is a thought-provoking exploration of the paradoxical notion of how human intellect can upset nature’s equilibrium while, at the same time, assisting nature’s longevity. The artwork, a menagerie of interrelated sculptures and notions, invites us to reflect on our own place and time and our broader ecological context.
See the Forest for the Sea is on view through December 15, 2024, and is Lighthouse Works' 11th commission of public art.
Artist
Bio
Moko Fukuyama is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist whose diverse practice spans sculpture, filmmaking, performance, and installation. She immigrated to the United States from Japan in her early twenties and has pursued her version of the American Dream ever since. While living in locales ranging from Ames, Iowa to Memphis, Tennessee to Boston, Massachusetts to New York City, she has closely observed nuanced versions of modern political and cultural factions in the United States. Art has become a means for her to interpret and contend with social challenges that impinge on her life, and the American way of life at large.
Fukuyama’s projects have been supported by prominent non-profit institutions, such as Lighthouse Works, Recess, The Shed, Socrates Sculpture Park, Franconia Sculpture Park, River Valley Arts Collective, Al Held Foundation, LongHouse Reserve, Smack Mellon, and The Kitchen. Her work has been recognized with grants from the Rema Hort Mann Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Jerome Foundation. Fukuyama has held residencies at MacDowell, Stoneleaf Retreat, Art Omi, and Yaddo. From 2020 to 2022, Fukuyama participated in the Ground Floor Program at the International Studio & Curatorial Program where she was celebrated as their studio honoree. In 2022, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and she recently received the 2024 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship for her interdisciplinary work. Currently, she is creating a large-scale sculpture that will debut next month at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. In 2025, she will collaborate with the Public Art Fund to develop a public artwork to be installed at Rockaway Beach.
