The origin of Tanimori's sculptural beauty lies in the mud balls everyone obsessively made as children. These spheres, rolled and polished in the palm, represent a “primordial form” deeply rooted in her physical sensibility as a sculptor.

She presents hollowed-out spheres within her works as symbols of living beings, draping them in vividly dyed silk threads braided into plaits (much like braiding long hair in childhood). This layered thread forms a “boundary” that gently envelops the inner self, narrating the delicate radiance and powerful vitality inherent in life.

Tanimori's stoic approach to sculpture deeply resonates with the “anti-sculpture” philosophy presented by her mentor, Michio Fukuoka, and his gaze fixed on the origins of existence. While Fukuoka pursued “sculpture that is not made” and the silence of space, Tanimori, through the act of “making,” spins the invisible threads of life's connections into a tangible, palpable form.

“I feel connected within a great circle of life. To look at myself. To be looked back at. And to make sculpture,” Tanimori's words express how creation is not merely a formative act, but an urgent dialogue to reaffirm the world and the self.

Standing as if breathing quietly, Tanimori's sculptures ask us about the peace of “being” and a faint unease.

1976 Born in Hyogo Prefecture

1999 Graduated from Osaka University of Arts, Department of Fine Arts

Major Solo Exhibitions

2002 『Memory』 Gallery Ami / Osaka

2003 『Recurrence』 Shinanobashi Gallery / Osaka

2003 『Recurrence 2』 Shinanobashi Gallery / Osaka

2004 ‘Rose-Colored Spiral’ Sculptor Michio Fukuoka's Studio [Garden] / Osaka

2005 ‘Rose-Colored Room - Green Vortex’ Shinanobashi Gallery / Osaka

2006 ‘Rose-Colored Room - Green Vortex 2’ Art Space Niji / Kyoto

2006 ‘Vortex of Madness’ Shinanobashi Gallery / Osaka

2007 ‘luna’ Shinanobashi Gallery / Osaka

2007 ‘luna 2’ Shinanobashi Gallery / Osaka

2009 ‘Dawn Darkness’ Shinanobashi Gallery / Osaka

2010 ‘Mud Ball 2’ Shinanobashi Gallery apron / Osaka

2010 ‘Memories of Memories’ Shinanobashi Gallery / Osaka

2012 ‘Dark Crow’ Art Space Niji / Kyoto

2016 ‘Mother Earth―Love Circulates’ Art Space Niji / Kyoto

2018 ‘Vessel of Thoughts’ Note Gallery / Osaka

2021 ‘Secret Garden’ Note Gallery / Osaka

2023 ‘Earth・Daydreaming’ Note Gallery / Osaka

2025 ‘Our Portraits―Wishes to the Sky’ Note Gallery / Osaka

Major Group Exhibitions

2013 Shinanobashi Gallery Collection | Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art

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