To Japanese sculptor Toshihiko Mitsuya, aluminum foil is not just for baking. The artist has found a way to build shining sculptures and installations made entirely out of this unexpected material. His latest installation is “The Aluminum Garden”, a “garden” comprising of 180 smaller sculptures or as he calls them, “structural studies of plants.” The garden was designed specifically for Studio Picknick’s space in Berlin, Germany to coincide with Berlin Art Week. Palms, reeds, ferns, and other leafy greens have all been hand crafted with careful attention to detail. Mitsuya views his silvery garden as a collective organism. In other words, it has a living presence dependent on many smaller parts that form a whole. “A garden is never one, always many,” he shares in his show statement. While the aluminum foil gives the allusion of solidity or metal, it is a very light and fragile material. It points to the fragility of nature which is easily susceptible to pollution and other unnatural forces. Only when the parts work together in their natural order can nature maintain strength and health.
“The Aluminum Garden” by Toshihiko Mitsuya is now on view at Studio Picknick in Berlin through September 30th.
Montana-based ceramic sculptor 
French artist 
They've been described as looking like strange alien organisms and beautiful, gelatinous blobs - whatever you want to call her works,