Takahiro Iwasaki offers new experiences of familiar environments by creating and manipulating structures and objects in unexpected ways. He uses found and traditional materials to replicate utilitarian buildings and their surroundings as ethereal small-scale sculptures that are both spectacular and fragile. Reflection model (perfect bliss) 2010 is modelled on the Hoo-do (Phoenix Pavilion), constructed in 1053 in Uji, near Kyoto. The pavilion is part of the Byodo-in Temple, a building of particular cultural significance in Japan that is featured on the 10-yen coin. Meticulously recreated in the traditional building material hinoki (Japanese cypress), Iwasaki captures the momentary reflection that often occurs in the lake adjacent to the pavilion. The double-imaging is seamlessly mirrored in the sculpture, without distinguishing between what is real and what is reflected, while its being suspended heightens the fragility of this grand and enduring structure.

Feature image: Reflection model (perfect bliss) 2010 installed for the 7th Asia Pacific Triennial, QAGOMA, Decemeber 2012 / The Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art. Purchased 2013 with funds from Michael Sidney Myer through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / © Takahiro Iwasaki / Photograph: B Wagner, QAGOMA