Yutaka Sone at David Zwirner

"No two are the same."

In this 21st Century-- an age of mass commodification, individualism is certainly something that "sticks out".

In many cases, the individual has been supplanted by "the greater good," or a terminology better known as "society at large."

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Over 30 million of you voted tonight, and the winner is... Sanjaya Malakar.

Seacrest out.

At David Zwirner this weekend, I encountered work unlike anything I've ever seen, for it was a celebration of the individual-- in this case, the "individual" being a snowflake.

Yutaka Sone's crystal sculptures represent something so miniscule, only through the manmade creation of the modern camera lens could we ever have discerned nature's own multiplicity-- in this case, each tiny arm branching out to reach into new connections and patterns.

Sone crafts highly detailed works carved from solid crystal through his studio in China.

This exhibit brings to mind so many elementary school arts and crafts projects that we all go through-- taking construction paper, folding it into multiple parts, then cutting holes to our heart's content with the round-tipped scissors.

But there was nothing craftlike about this exhibit.

You can almost feel your lungs choking on the fine dust particles from Sone's chisel.

In many ways, stepping into the blindingly bright crystal snowflake room felt much more like entering Superman's Fortress of Solitude; or perhaps the final room of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The snow white walls transform visual perception into optical trickery.

The only color to be noted in the room is from one's self.


Your skin tone, the colors of the clothes you're wearing, your own jewelry sparkling amongst the prism-like light reflection from the crystals.

In many ways, Sone is putting the focus back on the individual amongst multiple 'individuals."

I took this photo from this angle to demonstrate a point-- as far as the eye can see, new pattern formations.

Each pedestal is placed in a corresponding location-- you could almost feel the outline of a snowflake being formed as your footsteps trace the pathways between the columns.

I really liked the feeling of post-Apocalyptic vision that this room created.


A new ice age we might encounter in post-Industrial society.


Sone also created this marble sculpture based on a ski trip outing he took in the Rocky Mountains.





The snow-capped trees brush against the skiers as they inch along the lift to the mountain's peak.


Quite a nice trip away from the ordinary, and quite pertinent on an especially cold Spring weekend.


The exhibit runs until May 5, 2007.


For more information, go to:


http://www.davidzwirner.com/