Layered Form 5

Fujita’s overarching theme became the relationship of humanity to nature, and he considered the Layered Form series a means to explore his own existence. He compared the instinctive way he made these works to the hive making of bees, the growth of trees, and the expansion of the exoskeletons of shellfish. After fashioning a plaster mold made of gypsum, he covered it with layers of lacquer; because lacquer hardens slowly, he could apply only one half-millimeter coating per day. When he removed the mold, Fujita lacquered the empty space inside several times with a reddish-brown color to achieve a sense of depth. The interior was polished, but the exterior remained rough and unrefined, its earthy brown tone resembling tree bark.