" DISINTEGRATED BAMBOO DARUMA ", Selected for the MINGEI BAMBOO PRIZE 2020

Exhibited at the Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts (MNAAG) until 1st March 2021

Chikuunsai IV creates two kinds of bamboo works. The first, which are made using traditional techniques transmitted from generation to generation, are functional objects destined for used in ikebana and in the tea ceremony. He remains faithful to those traditions, and is currently passing his art on to future generations by teaching eight disciples and his three children.

His other works fall squarely into the realm of contemporary creation. Tanabe Chikuunsai IV is an artist of his time who expresses his individuality through various organic sculptural forms using Tiger bamboo and Black bamboo along with other natural materials. Both his functional and contemporary works are part of many notable international private and public collections.

He has been awarded many prizes in Japan as well as abroad, and was the recipient of the prestigious Lloyd Cotsen Bamboo Prize in the United States in 2007.