Suda Yoshihiro
November 18, 2025 - January 30, 2026
“My usual approach to displaying my works can make things difficult to see, and to me, things being overlooked or hard to spot is part of the viewing experience. Doing something that doesn’t seem possible is really the same as not doing what does seem possible.” - Suda Yoshihiro
NEW YORK, NY – Mignoni is pleased to present its first exhibition with Japanese contemporary artist Suda Yoshihiro. Born in 1969 in Yamanashi, near Mt. Fuji, Suda grew up on his family’s farm, surrounded by the countryside. Now based in Tokyo, he carves lifelike sculptures of plants and flowers in the tradition of Japanese woodcarving. His meticulously crafted works recall the art of netsuke and are placed with thoughtful precision within architectural spaces, altering how viewers experience both the artwork and its surroundings. Suda’s installations invite close attention, revealing beauty in unexpected places and creating a subtle dialogue between nature and the built world.
While studying at Tama Art University in the late 1980s, Suda discovered his passion for woodcarving after creating a small sculpture of a dried squid for a class assignment. This work sparked his lifelong dedication to the art form. After briefly working in packaging design, he left to dedicate himself fully to art, presenting his first solo exhibition, Ginza Weed Theory, staged in metered parking spaces in Ginza—an unconventional debut that marked the start of his artistic career.
Over the decades, Suda has developed a distinctive practice centered on flowers and plants. Carved from Japanese magnolia wood and tinted with mineral pigments, his sculptures are so precise they are often mistaken for real. His devotion to this motif reflects both his deep affinity for nature’s quiet persistence and his enduring engagement with craft as meditation. Throughout his career, Suda continues to reveal the vitality of the natural world through the disciplined act of carving wood.
Suda’s plants appear lifesize —fallen leaves in a corner, weeds emerging from a floorboard crack, a tulip wilting in a vase. At first glance they may pass unnoticed, but once discovered they alter our perception of the space. Working from memory and imagination rather than direct observation, Suda merges reference and intuition. His use of illusion draws the viewer into sharper focus, echoing his belief that a work of art comes fully into being only when it is seen.
Faced with a tranquil environment, viewers are invited to search and follow their curiosity. In this moment of discovery, the exhibition space becomes active, its role revealed as integral to the work. Suda draws attention not only to the sculpture but to the room itself—its presence before and after installation. For him, “seeing” exists on a spectrum in which “not seeing” also belongs. The negative space around each piece is part of its meaning; every location is chosen with care so that object and environment exist in dialogue. Like silence between spoken words, these intervals create a rhythm of awareness and pause. His practice embodies Japanese aesthetics that honor restraint, clarity, and the beauty of simplicity, framing nature in stillness and reflection.
By animating the artificial, Suda converts the gallery into an environment of his own making. His work evokes tenderness for fleeting moments in nature—a flower before decay, a weed before removal—and gives equal weight to plant, space, and perception. Through these subtle interventions, he invites us to look again, to find wonder in the small and overlooked, and to recognize their serene, transformative power.
Suda Yoshihiro (b. 1969, Yamanashi, Japan) studied at Tama Art University, earning his BA in 1992. He lives and works in Tokyo. His solo exhibitions include The Shoto Museum of Art, Tokyo (2024); Suda Yoshihiro. Mite Clematis, Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Shizuoka (2018); Chiba City Museum of Art (2012); Yoshihiro Suda: In Focus, Asia Society Museum, New York (2009); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2004); Focus: Yoshihiro Suda, curated by James Rondeau, Art Institute of Chicago (2003); and Hara Documents 6: Tree of Calm Mountains, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (1999).
