“Video, courtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens”
Through Fire
PROCESS
This body of work begins with fallen trees from California. Rather than preserving the wood in its original state, the artist subjects it to fire, initiating a process of transformation.
Through documentation of the making process, we observed that the work is fundamentally shaped by fire. The charred wood does not simply change form; it transitions into a state that carries layers of time within it.
The addition of ceramic elements introduces another temporal dimension. The interaction between organic material and fired mineral forms creates a condition in which change and permanence coexist.
In Homage to Nature, exhibited at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, this process continues beyond installation. The work remains in dialogue with its environment, evolving over time—both as a completed sculpture and as an ongoing phenomenon.
Taken as a whole, this series presents nature not as a fixed image, but as a process of continuous transformation through fire.
本シリーズはカリフォルニアの倒木から始まる。
作家はそれを保存するのではなく、火によって焼き、変容のプロセスを引き起こす。
制作過程の記録を通して、火が作品の核であることが明らかになる。
焼かれた木は単なる変化ではなく、時間を内包した存在へと移行する。
陶の要素は別の時間軸を加え、有機と鉱物が共存する状態を生む。
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardensで展示されている《Homage to Nature》では、
このプロセスが環境とともに継続している。
本シリーズは、固定された自然ではなく、火による変容のプロセスとしての自然を提示する。
水野峰夫
水野峰夫は、北カリフォルニアを拠点に活動する現代美術作家。自然素材と陶を中心に、インスタレーション、彫刻、映像作品などを制作し、「自然と人間の共生」「再生」「循環」「記憶」をテーマにした作品を展開している。
彼はシエラネバダ山麓の森に暮らし、周囲の自然環境と密接に関わりながら制作を行う。その制作プロセスは、地域の倒木や剪定材などを再利用するなど、環境と共存する実践的な姿勢に基づいている。
代表作《NEST》《Thousand Blossoms》《Komorebi - light of forest》などでは、木・土・陶・金属といった素材を用い、自然の循環と生命の関係性を空間的に可視化している。これらの作品は、鳥の営巣や植物の生成といった自然のプロセスを参照しながら、人間と自然の関係を再構築する試みとして位置づけられる。
近年の主なプロジェクトに、The Huntington（カリフォルニア）での《Homage to Nature》シリーズや、ロサンゼルス・カウンティ美術館（LACMA）での展示「Harmony」、Gagosian Galleryでのプロジェクト(Story from a California Forest) などがある。これらの作品は、現代社会における環境問題や生態系の変化への応答としても評価されている。
Mineo Mizuno is a contemporary artist based in Northern California. Working primarily with natural materials and ceramics, he creates installations, sculptures, and video works that explore themes of coexistence between humans and nature, regeneration, cycles, and memory.
Living in a forest at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Mizuno develops his practice in close relationship with the surrounding environment. His process reflects a sustainable approach, often incorporating locally sourced fallen trees and pruned wood.
In major works such as NEST, Thousand Blossoms, and Komorebi – light of forest, he uses materials including wood, soil, ceramic, and metal to visualize the cycles of nature and interconnectedness of life. Referencing natural processes such as bird nesting and plant growth, his work reconsiders the relationship between humans and the natural world.
Recent projects include the Homage to Nature series at The Huntington (California), the exhibition “Harmony” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and projects with Gagosian Gallery (Story from a California Forest). His work has been recognized as a thoughtful response to environmental concerns and ecological transformation in contemporary society.
PROJECT in 2024 -2029
Homage to Nature
installation view
at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, California
fallen California oak, steel, ceramic, stone
Courtesy of the Artist
photo credit : Artist, Mineo Mizuno
installation at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
(2022-2025)
Manzanita wood, steel, aluminum, hemp, ceramic
Courtesy of the Artist and Gagosian Gallery
photo credit : Artist, Mineo Mizuno
Manzanita wood chips collected from the forest management processes intended to reduce wildfire risk are reassembled into new organic structures.
Ceramic element are combined to suggest regenerative, nest-like formations.
installation at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
(2022-2025)
Ceramic
Courtesy of the Artist and Gagosian Gallery
photo credit : Artist, Mineo Mizuno
Clay-fired blossoms that evoke collective memory and resilience, inspired by traditional symbolic forms of offering and prayer.
The work reflects on life, loss, and regeneration through accumulated forms.
installation at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens (2022-2025)
California oak wood, ceramic
Courtesy of the Artist and Gagosian Gallery
photo credit : Artist, Mineo Mizuno
A series of ceramic blossoms inspired by seasonal renewal and the shifting light of the forest canopy.
These works reflect the fragile boundary between natural growth and human intervention.
Note on NEST, THOUSAND BLOSSOMS and KOMOREBI - light of forest
" Story from a California Forest "
roof top project at Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, CA
10.9.2020~5.30.2021
Living and working in the forests of Northern California, I have been exploring themes of life, death, renewal, among others in my works. I am excited for this series not only for the opportunity to work with both California oak and ceramic, but because I feel it is especially relevant in this current climate where wildfires have become more and more prevalent. (Mineo Mizuno)
" Harmony "
8.10~2.23.2020 at LACMA
https://unframed.lacma.org/2019/08/12/now-view—mineo-mizuno-harmony
" Current "
4/09~5/14.2016 at Samuel freeman
Los Angeles, CA
