In the gallery, OGATA presents NENGE, an original selection of plant sculptures. Each of these plant sculptures dwell in a carefully selected container – a jar, a piece of crockery, handcrafted and even recycled objects. For this exhibition, OGATA welcomes plant artist Satoshi Kawamoto to orchestrate a silent dialogue, between a designated container and a plant that best suits it. This exchange resorts to the Japanese aesthetic principles governing the layout of a room, and the floral arrangement within it, everchanging with the seasons, as well as the beauty of the gestures that become a ritual. Nonetheless, it does not fall in any established practice, whether it is the Western styles of floral arrangement or the Japanese ikebana. This silent conversation creates a new expression of nature’s ephemeral beauty that leads us to appreciate the formal perfection of the meeting between a plant and its vessel, in an instant suspended between freshness and wilt. The series of works sculpted for this exhibition reveal OGATA Paris in a different light; in a dialogue between the perennial materials of the building, the delicate texture of the furniture and the radiant fragility of the plants that unfold there.
In Zen Buddhism, the famous fable of the Flower Sermon tells the tale of the silent sermon one day the Buddha gave to his disciples. Taking a lotus flower in his hand, Buddha showed it to his disciples. Among them, only Mahākāśyapa understood the ineffable sermon and smiled. In the Japanese language, this fable’s direct transmission of wisdom through non-verbal means, or “heart-to-heart communication” is called Nenge Mishō (« pluck a flower, subtle smile).