To See the Moon in Exile, Yasue Maetake's New York solo debut, explores productive and entropic tensions between nature and science through four mixed-media sculptures and one video. Warrior, a tree-like assemblage of steel, copper, resin, and silk, uses inventive material juxtapositions to underscore humankind's attempted mastery of nature. Referencing Buddhist and Shinto texts, the three-channel video Haisho No Tsuki shows the artist engaged in improbable, ritualistic activities in natural settings. In one scene, Maetake is roped to a tree high in the forest canopy. Impassively viewing her surroundings through a gigantic, lollipop-shaped lens, Maetake lyrically evokes the wonderment and futility at the heart of human curiosity.

-TC