Medium: Washi paper, archival pigment print
Edition: 2/2
Framing: Hand-mounted Japanese hanging scroll
Withered Plant is one of Matsuura Kikoh's most representative series. Using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), the artist observes dried plants and transforms otherwise invisible microstructures into images that resemble landscapes or drifting vapor. In his work, withering is not treated simply as an end, but as a moment within a larger cycle of regeneration. Rather than merely appropriating scientific imagery, the series brings together scientific observation, artistic transformation, and archival consciousness. The use of washi paper, hanging-scroll mounting, and vertical composition lends the microscopic world a quiet contemplative quality, allowing the work to hold life, time, and memory in a restrained yet resonant visual form.
Matsuura Kikoh is a "Contemporary Natural History Artist" working at the intersection of art and science. He personally owns and operates both a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM), using them for sustained observation, artistic production, and archival preservation. His practice focuses on realms beyond ordinary human perception, seeking new ways to reveal and rethink them through art. In his representative series Withered Plant, the microscopic structures of dried plants become the basis for images that meditate on life, death, time, and regeneration.