‘Yamatane’ installation opens at Rice Gallery

Japanese artist Yusuke Asai’s “yamatane” (mountain seed) installation opened at Rice University Art Gallery Oct. 2 and will be on display through Nov. 23. Asai’s immersive mural was painted for Rice in conjunction with the Menil Collection’s exhibition “Experiments With Truth: Gandhi and Images of Nonviolence.” Asai paints with different types of mud, dust, soil and other natural materials he finds locally. For his first U.S. exhibition, Asai transformed Houston’s swampy soil found in its bayous and surrounding areas into a stylized, fantastical landscape, according to Rice Gallery. For more information on the installation, visit www.ricegallery.org/new/exhibition/yusuke.html. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow)