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ABSTRACT LINES220

Process and Harmony

SOMETIMES A DRAWN LINE sings on the surface of its support. and patient watching. Abe's physical drawing is a sculptural
Sometimes it smolders like a deep shadow. It can proclaim installation. Damp Japanese paper was laid over carefully
mood, silence, and sensitivity with its thickness and pressure arranged iron bars. Moisture produced rust, staining red-
of touch. A line can be finished in a second, or, as Twombly brown lines into the white surface. Five forged steel shapes,
shows us opposite, it can keep reforming through the inherent akin to stones in a Zen garden, sit in silent harmony, quoting
repetition of a process. A Neolithic chalk tablet bears cut lines ink marks on a page. Twombly's mesmeric wax line worked
that were slowly carved. Below, Mamoru Abe prepares an over house paint is like a signature, rhythmically engaged with
image that will appear through the chemistry of iron, water, itself, scrolling across the canvas in an intimate crescendo.

MAMORU ABE Lines, tone, and texture Pillars of the gallery are made part The Physical Space
of this drawing by their inclusion in the paper. This amplifies 1990
Japanese sculptor and installation artist, and Assistant their bracing separation of the floor from the ceiling. Iron rods 3 0 x 30 ft ( 9 1 4 x 9 1 4 cm)
Professor of Fine A r t at Fukuoka University. Abe reaching from beneath the paper rest within the framelike MAMORU ABE
works with materials such as soil, forged steel, brass, rim of floor space. Changes in tone, texture, and temperature
ice, salt, and plaster in galleries and landscapes. He between paper, iron, and wood are also part of the work.
travels widely to research ancient sacred sites.