PHASE CONCEPTION: FIELD OF LIGHT

Sekine's debut as a sculptor and pioneer of environmental art came in 1968 when he won a prize during Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition in Kobe. He dug a cylindrical hole in the ground of the park and used the earth from this hole to create a cylinder above ground with exactly the same dimensions as the hole. This work, entitled Phase – Mother Earth, was based on the concept that identical shapes, whether real or unreal, show the same topography. The work which Sekine first gained international recognition was Phase – Nothingness , which was exhibited in the 35th Venice Biennale in 1970. This monumental sculpture resembles a rock garden suspended in air, inducing a tension between the natural and the surreal.

Sekine's attempt to present the power of natural state through a filter of artificiality is demonstrated in iconic marble sculptures in the 1970s with one half remaining as its natural state but another half is finely sculpted. Such idea is fully illustrated in Lot 466 where strong contradiction is created between the supposedly refined and grand material of gold leaf and the spontaneous holes and scratches on the surface. The intentional interference of surface reveals the materiality and vulnerability of the gold leaf itself. In Sekine's own words:

"I want to brush the dust of names and concepts from material objects and show the infinite reality of the objects themselves in their natural state".