Tanabe Chikuunsai IV (b. 1973, Japan)
Renzui 連綴 (Connection)
Boat-shaped bamboo basket, tabane-ami (bundled-weave) technique

Renzui—meaning "Connection"—takes the elongated form of a boat with both ends gently rising upward. Its finely and evenly woven base supports a succession of curved and interlaced bamboo bundles created using the traditional tabane-ami technique. These openwork lines form a rhythmic interplay of loops and diagonals, lightening the structure while reinforcing its upward movement. The composition evokes passage, exchange, and encounter, echoing the maritime history of Sakai, the artist's hometown.

Poised between ikebana vessel and sculpture, Renzui demonstrates how Tanabe Chikuunsai IV reinterprets the classical forms of Japanese bamboo basketry through an exceptional command of line, negative space, and balance.