[…] Named after a lunar mare, a large dark basaltic plain in the eastern half of the moon, the exhibition MARE FECUNDITATIS (2025) at Silverlens Gallery, Manila, consists of six new sculptures in Maetake's distinct artistic method, advancing a lineage from her past works. Maetake refers to the organic matter found in her sculptural works as “prima materia”, a proprietary blend of calcium, other minerals, polymers derived from marine organisms, animal bones, fossils, and various gemstones. This material is then finished by Maetake using stone-polishing techniques. In this way, Maetake is not merely an assembler of found objects; she is the creator of the very substance of her work. Her agency is evident not only in the creation of these material bodies but in what she allows to fall away from the raw material…
—Excerpt from exhibition essay by Yayoi Shionoiri, “Clarity in Reductionism: Yasue Maetake’s Sculptural Bodies”
Exhibition Video
[…] In this video, Yasue Maetake welcomes us into her Brooklyn studio to talk about her otherworldly sculptures, in celebration of her first solo exhibition in the Philippines, ‘Mare Fecunditatis’. Referring to the organic matter used in her work as her prima materia, she is not merely an assembler of found objects but the creator of the very substance of her work…
06:00 minutes | Yasue Maetake: Mare Fecunditatis | published by Silverlens, September, 2025
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Mare Fecunditatis—resurrection
2025
H23 x 90 x 24 in.
Steel, urethane resin, proprietary compound made from epoxy, coral, seashell, fossil, animal bone, lapis lazuli, turquoise, jade, amethyst, blue quartz, green fluorite, red jasper, rose quartz, alabaster, soap stone, sea glass, and marble
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Neuro Estuary
2025
H69 x 40 x 32 in.
Steel, urethane resin, urethane foam, chrome pigment, cast zamak alloy, proprietary compound made from epoxy, coral, seashell, fossil, animal bone, lapis lazuli, turquoise, jade, amethyst, blue quartz, green fluorite, red jasper, rose quartz, alabaster, soap stone, sea glass, and marble
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Primordial Soup
2023 - 2025
H59 x 26 x28 in.
Cast aluminum, oak, plexiglass, cast polyurethane resin, driftwood, found steel chain, proprietary compound made from epoxy, coral, seashells, animal bones, fossils, alabaster, sea glass, origami, red jasper, jade, rose quartz, amethyst, blue quartz, green fluorite, and turquoise
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Ceremonial Delta II
2025
33 x 28 x 12 in.
Oak, camel bone, proprietary compound made from epoxy, coral, seashell, fossil, animal bone, lapis lazuli, turquoise, jade, amethyst, blue quartz, green fluorite, red jasper, rose quartz, alabaster, soap stone, sea glass, and marble
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Ceremonial Delta I
2025
30 x 20 x 8 in.
Oak, cast aluminum, proprietary compound made from epoxy, coral, seashell, fossil, animal bone, lapis lazuli, turquoise, jade, amethyst, blue quartz, green fluorite, red jasper, rose quartz, alabaster, soap stone, sea glass, and marble
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Mare Fecunditatis—fetus
2025
H8 x 40 x 7½ in.
Steel strut channel, cast aluminum, urethane resin, proprietary compound made from epoxy, coral, seashell, fossil, bone, lapis lazuli, turquoise, jade, amethyst, blue quartz, green fluorite, red jasper, rose quartz, alabaster, sea glass, and marble