Plume
2027
H6¾ x 22 x 6¾ in
H17 x 56 x 17 cm
Steel, brass, cast aluminum, hand-carved proprietary compound (marine calcite, fossilized bone, lapis lazuli, turquoise, jade, amethyst, blue quartz, green fluorite, red jasper, rose quartz, alabaster, sea glass, polymer, marble, and epoxy)
Plume extends horizontally from the wall on a long, polished brass arm fixed to a dark steel plate. At its outer end, a dense multi-hued mineral cluster flares outward in irregular, meticulously hand-carved, feather-like formations of prima materia. The mineral body is notably grainier than other prima materia in the exhibition, with more visible marble granules across the surface. The metal section is made by dipping the brass into molten aluminum, utilizing the discrepancy in melting temperatures: the higher-melting brass retains its form intact while the lower-melting aluminum forms a skin around it. The brass body is buffed to a high mirror polish, while the aluminum retains the natural crevices produced by the dipping process. This combined metal transition grips and holds the colorful mineral body, creating a clear material break between the smooth industrial extension and the encrusted, hand-carved mass. The variegated surface — shifting across blues, greens, golds, whites, and deeper mineral tones, and layered with residual shell forms, crystalline fragments, and translucent inclusions — appears to open and disperse at the tip, holding a state of expansion in a semi-circular form.
Like the other wall-mounted works, Plume is experienced most fully from the side rather than frontally.
Plume (2027) Steel, brass, cast aluminum, hand-carved proprietary compound (marine calcite, fossilized bone, lapis lazuli, turquoise, jade, amethyst, blue quartz, green fluorite, red jasper, rose quartz, alabaster, sea glass, polymer, marble, and epoxy). H6¾ x 22 x 6¾ inch H17 x 56 x 17 cm
Detail of Yasue Maetake’s sculpture Plume, 2027. Close-up of the multicolored proprietary compound form with irregular organic surfaces and embedded mineral elements.
Yasue Maetake’s sculpture Plume, 2027. Wall-mounted hybrid form with a long brass extension and multicolored proprietary compound structure at the end, attached to a steel wall mount.
Detail of Yasue Maetake’s sculpture Plume, 2027. Close-up of the multicolored proprietary compound form with layered organic surfaces and embedded mineral elements attached to the brass extension.
Detail of Yasue Maetake’s sculpture Plume, 2027. Close-up of the junction between the brass extension and the multicolored proprietary compound form, with a textured silver cast aluminum section.
Detail of Yasue Maetake’s sculpture Plume, 2027. Close-up of the textured silver cast aluminum section and multicolored proprietary compound forms attached to the brass element.
