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Kazu Nakagawa and Pacific Environments Architects

Kazu Nakagawa and Pacific Environments Architects Kæ ́muə Kæ ́muri, 2019

Lawson Cypress, 3800 x 380mm x 2

What links architecture to art? Eliminate utilitarian components like doors, windows, staircases, and you are left with structural form, an assembly of modular building blocks, a naked architecture that echoes its environment; natural building blocks and modular shapes repeated in trees, shells, even molecules.

In this artist-architect collaboration, Kazu Nakagawa accepts the environment in which the sculpture is placed as its own fully rendered modular architecture. He builds backwards from this understanding; disintegrating and decomplexifying to find an organic entry point so the finished work is integral to the environment.

Pronounced “ka mua ka muri” and translating as “looking backwards to move forward”, this work utilises the origami method; simple faceted planes that build into complex physical structures that reflect and form a dialogue with their environment.

Kazu Nakagawa

Born in Tokyo. Lives & works on Waiheke Island.

Kazu Nakagawa studied Mathematics, Language, Engineering and Navigation in Tokyo and was later apprenticed for furniture making and graphic design as his focus shifted towards the arts. Survey exhibitions of Nakagawa’s work have been held at Te Tuhi and The Dowse Art Museum. His work is represented in the collections of The Dowse Art Museum and Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand Maritime Museum and the New Zealand Embassy in Japan. Represented by Trish Clark Gallery. trishclark.co.nz

www.kazunakagawa.com

Pacific Environments

Pacific Environments NZ Ltd (PENZL) is one of New Zealand’s longest-standing architecture firms, with a proud history spanning nearly 60 years. The Ka mua Ka muri sculpture is our second collaboration with Kazu Nakagawa, our first being the carved façade of the Waiheke Library. This time Kazu lead the project while we provided support, resulting in a blend of conceptual thought and craft methodology, and an outcome we could not have envisaged alone.

www.pacificenvironments.co.nz