Encyclopedia of Flowers
Makoto Azuma and Shunsuke Shiinoki
Lars Müller Publishers
English
Edited by Kyoto Wada
Softcover
Paperback in a transparent slipcase
512 pages
160 × 240 mm
2012
ISBN 9783037783139
Encyclopedia of Flowers is a visual exploration of the breathtaking floral arrangements by Makoto Azuma—encounters of unusual, sometimes exotic plants that wouldn’t typically occur in nature. With his meticulously composed photographs, Shunsuke Shiinoki exposes the flowers’ tenuous existence, their fragile forms, continuous metamorphoses, and inevitable decay. In a contemporary manner, Encyclopedia of Flowers immerses the reader in a universe of extraordinary beauty while at the same time addressing dichotomies such as durability and vanity, artificiality and nature, hybrid culture and environmental change. This volume by the Japanese “haute-couture” florists includes an introduction by Makoto Azuma and an index identifying all of the more than 2,000 featured species with their binomial names.
(source: https://www.lars-mueller-publishers.com/encyclopedia-flowers)
About the Artist
AZUMA Makoto is Flower artist. He has been in the flower business since 2002 and is an owner of the haute-couture floral shop, “JARDINS des FLEURS” in Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo. In 2005, in addition to these activities as a florist, he began to explore the possibilities of expression by flowers and plants, and express forms that cannot be held within the framework of the art of flowers. By starting with his solo exhibition in New York, he presents a number of leading-edge works worldwide, including Europe, the United States, Asia, and South America. In 2009, he launched an experimental botanical collective, “Azuma Makoto, Kaju Kenkyusho (AMKK),” and continues to present experimental works at museums, art galleries, and public spaces both in Japan and overseas. In recent years, he has also been energetically showcasing the artworks which explore the connection between people and flowers. He has been pursuing the beauty of flowers and plants from his unique point of view, from the huge collection of works known as the “Botanical Sculpture” to the micro world where flowers are projected using X-ray technology, by maximizing the charms of flowers as “life.”
azumamakoto.com
(source: https://azumamakoto.com/about/)
Shiinoki opened the “haute couture” flower shop JARDINS des FLEURS at Ginza together with Makoto Azuma in 2002. Around the time Azuma first started creating his botanical sculptures, Shiinoki began to point his camera at the ever-changing forms of life, committing himself to capturing such processes of gradual decay. Having been working with plants and facing the cycle of life and death on a daily basis, he developed an ability to highlight the genuine color, vital energy and mystique of flowers and plants as specifically natural qualities.
In 2011, Seigensha published 2009-2011 Flowers, the first book showcasing the results of his collaboration with Azuma. After then, Shiinoki continues to capture every art work by Azuma and covers a wide range of works, as well video work.
azumamakoto.com
(source: https://azumamakoto.com/about/)
About the Publisher
Lars Müller Publishers is an internationally active publishing house based in Zurich, Switzerland. It came into being in 1983, as a result of the bibliophile passion of designer Lars Müller. The house has made a worldwide name for itself – and not just in specialist fields – with carefully edited and designed publications on architecture, design, photography, contemporary art and society. The publishing program reflects Müller’s own diverse interests, documenting historical developments and contemporary phenomena by presenting compelling work in the visual arts and the design of objects and the environment and exploring its social and cultural relevance.
lars-mueller-publishers.com
(source: https://universityoftheunderground.org/lars-muller-publishers)
