Takashi Suzuki was intrigued by a very unique material. Something that I don’t even see as having any potential of becoming something worthwhile (and I consider myself seeing the beauty in unconventional). Dishwashing sponges is what Suzuki is intrigued by.

He explains that this is because of the texture, colour and variety of form and kind that inspire him to create the ‘Bau’ series. He started off by just playing around the sponges then proceeds to challenge himself to create and fine sculptural forms he can discover through the assemblages of the mundane material. It was not long before he find himself creating hundreds of these assemblages that will make up the ‘Bau’ series we know of today.

To have visual consistency and avoid adding extra content, he chose to only use sponges and shoot only on black backdrop. Suzuki also adapted a 45 degree angle to ensure the sponges do not appear flat to the visual eye. All images of ‘Bau’ are improvisations to attempt to re-visualize images that were in the artist’s mind. Through this series of photographs, Suzuki attempts to manifest how photographic images are perceived and how one processes visual information prior to one’s memory.

Do also check out the rest of his works. Particularly, ‘ARCA‘ and ‘Altus’. Both which I resonate very well with and find very intriguing.

Image Source: presentandcorrect.com