ABOUT: Yasue Maetake’s approach focuses on transforming materials through the lenses of protoscience, theology, and artisanal creation, using "terrestrial substances" sourced from marine organisms, bones, fossils, metals, wood, and quartz. Her sculptures are often polished to yield a luminous effect, exploring the illusion of material amalgamation beyond their melting points. Her work explores the concept of somaesthetics in relation to consciousness and technology, proposing that the evolution of consciousness from physical matter could unlock her new creative potentials. Rather than viewing reductive materialism as a limitation, Maetake sees it as a source of creativity, treating materials as living agents that engage in processes akin to procreation and death. Her works evoke a life-cycle that is ever renewing itself, emphasizing the alchemical, immaterial qualities that lie in the ambiguity of the nonrepresentational character, whether manmade, natural, or divine.
BIO: Yasue Maetake (b. 1973) is a Tokyo-born New York based artist, originally trained in glass engraving in Japan, the Czech Republic, and Germany before settling in New York City. Her work has been exhibited at numerous national and international institutions such as Espacio 1414 at the Berezdivin Collection, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Queens Art Museum, New York; 10th Sonsbeek, Arnhem, Netherlands; and ASU Art Museum, Arizona, amongst others. Solo exhibitions include Fons Welters, Amsterdam, The Chimney, New York, Microscope, New York, and Nina Johnson, Miami, and others. Maetake’s work has been featured in Sculpture Magazine and reviewed in Artforum, The New York Times, ArtAsiaPacific, FlashArt, amongst others. Maetake was named one of “20 international women advancing the field of sculpture” by Artsy, is a recipient of the NYFA Fellowship in Sculpture, and she also completed a residency in the studio of El Anatsui in Ghana sponsored by a research grant from the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan. In Fall 2025, Maetake will present her first solo show at Silverlens in Manila. Yasue Maetake earned her MFA from Columbia University in New York.