Ethereal Studies in Floral Arrangement
For his latest show at Tomio Koyama, Sam Falls is bringing the outdoors in — quite literally. Falls has spent years perfecting a “symbiotic” way of making art. Instead of using a camera to take a picture of a forest, he takes the canvas to the forest; he lays it out on the ground, scatters local plants across the surface and sprinkles them with dry pigments. Then, nature takes over: whether it’s a light morning mist in Los Angeles or a heavy rainstorm, the weather acts as the paintbrush, melting the colors around the plants to create “primary source” images that feel like ghosts of the landscape itself.
This exhibition feels especially connected to Japan, featuring a new “Ikebana” series inspired by his time studying traditional flower arrangement in Tokyo. These ceramic pieces feature vase-like elements for installing fresh, local flowers that change with the seasons — which you can catch a whiff of as soon as you enter the gallery space.
