髙橋銑「条痕板／Streak Plate」

Otherwise Gallery is pleased to present Streak Plate, a solo exhibition by sculptor Sen Takahashi.

Drawing from his experience in the conservation and restoration of sculptures, Takahashi creates works that visualize the passage of time and embedded memory within material deterioration and traces.

This exhibition marks the debut of a new series of works that use marble as a base material. Focusing on the phenomenon in which rust and discoloration caused by metal oxidation stain the surface of stone, Takahashi intentionally fixes these effects onto the marble, offering a renewed perspective on the sculptural medium.

The exhibition title, Streak Plate, was originally coined by Takahashi, inspired by the streak-like marks (“jōkon”) he encountered on site during sculpture conservation and restoration. However, through further research, he discovered that “streak plate” is also an actual term referring to an unglazed porcelain plate used to identify minerals.

Takahashi felt a deep resonance with the unexpected coincidence—both his practice and the term streak plate evoke how observation can lead to something essential. This led him to adopt the title.

The exhibition invites viewers to engage with a sculptural exploration of traces—where intentionality and nature intersect.


Artist Statement
As we know, rust manifests in different hues depending on the metal.
Iron, for instance, tends to rust into a familiar reddish brown—a transformation many of us can easily picture.
The idea for this series came from my experience working not only as an artist, but also in the conservation of outdoor sculptures.
In many locations across Japan, I’ve seen oxidized surfaces of metal works bleed with rainwater and leave colored stains on the stone pedestals below.
These stains—pooling around the base, or trailing downward in streaks of oxidized color—often appear somewhat dirty.
But when I focus on the colors themselves, I always find them simply beautiful.
At times, I even find these marks more evocative than the artworks themselves.
They are records of the air that surrounded the work, of whether it was cared for or left to age, of its gradual decay, and of the time it spent existing in that place.
The works in this exhibition are composed of stone bases combined with corrosion-prone metals such as copper, brass, and iron.
The grooves carved into the stone are stained by water carrying rust from the metal fragments.
Though one is made intentionally and the other formed by nature, I find that when I look at them, I can direct the same imagination toward both.
When I make and present my work, I do so with the hope that viewers might notice something in the world around them—something not directly related to my own expression.
The themes of what remains and what decays run through everything, and that is why I continue to return to them in my practice.