Footsteps in the Snow by Drue Kataoka
“The footsteps, made of light, lead the viewer into the mountain—or perhaps they are the viewer’s own footsteps, made of light.”
Medium: Sumi ink mixed with melted Davos snow water on Japanese scroll, mirror, lights
Dimensions: 151 × 51 cm
Created: 2010
The Alpine landscape unfurls in nuanced brush strokes. The ink was mixed with melted Davos snow-water. The mirror is a bridge into the mountains, hanging over the abyss. Maybe it’s covered with ice, or maybe it is actually a mythical frozen Alpine river. The footsteps, made of light, lead the viewer into the mountain—or perhaps they are the viewer’s own footsteps, made of light. Created in 2010, this is one of Drue's first works exploring the intersection of mirrors and ink, merging environment and artistic reality, and projecting the viewer into the negative space.
Art from the Snows of Davos
Drue invited a Swiss girl named Linn Pfiffner to collect the Davos snow that was used to create the ink for Art from the Snows of Davos series. The title is a metaphor of the World Economic Forum as a river of ideas, originating in the Alpine snow—much like real rivers originating in the Alps such as the Danube, the Rhine and the Po.
Snow collected in the Alps & melted for the art.
Drue takes the melted Davos water & creates the ink for the art.
Each viewer sees herself/himself in the art, cast into the bridge.
At Drue’s Solo Exhibition in Davos.