Bottomless 3

The eye runs over what seems to be a descriptive drawing - perhaps architectural? - to capture its idea and project its hypothetical shape in space. But the layouts are ephemeral, they stop and superimpose, leading to nothing that our spirit can actually build. And while the keys accurately name the parts of a curved object, they are no less empty and further stress the enigmatic aspect of this work.

Painted with oil, pencil and collage on canvas, Bottomless 3 is one of Shûsaku Arakawa’s conceptual “diagrams”. Through his innovative artistic and architectural activity, he highlights and studies the mechanics of perception and human knowledge, as here in the combination of architectural sketch and scientific diagram.

Bottomless 3, by Shûsaku Arakawa, belongs to the Pinault Collection. The work was first shown at the “Prima Materia” (“Raw Material”) exhibition at the Punta della Dogana in Venice.