Artist: Yasushi Hori
Title: Go to the World of Desire
Location: Montenegro
Date: 2025
Material: Stone
Technique: Direct stone carving / relief sculpture
Concept & Theme
Go to the World of Desire is a monumental stone sculpture created by Japanese sculptor Yasushi Hori in Montenegro in 2025. The work presents human figures emerging from and remaining partially integrated with a massive stone block, creating a striking dialogue between the physical body and the surrounding material.
The composition depicts four human figures in inverted and vertical positions, their bodies extending upward toward the top of the stone. Their forms appear to move between the solid surface and the open spaces carved through the block, creating a sense of transformation and movement.
One of the most distinctive elements is the contrast between the smoothly modeled human bodies and the deeply textured stone surface surrounding them. The rough, vertically carved background resembles flowing currents or waves, suggesting an environment that is constantly moving while the human figures remain suspended within it.
A floating spherical form at the centre of the composition introduces another important visual element. Its simple geometry contrasts with the organic human bodies and textured stone, potentially suggesting desire, attraction, or an intangible force drawing the figures beyond the boundaries of the physical world.
The inverted position of several figures gives the sculpture a deliberately unconventional perspective. Rather than presenting the human body in a stable or traditional pose, Hori creates an image of falling, ascending and searching simultaneously. The figures seem caught between gravity and liberation, between the physical world and an imagined realm beyond it.
The title Go to the World of Desire further emphasizes this conceptual reading. Desire can be understood as a force that draws human beings beyond their present state—toward dreams, relationships, aspirations and experiences that lie outside the limits of everyday existence. The sculpture transforms this abstract idea into a physical composition through the upward movement of the bodies and the tension between stone and space.
The carefully carved hands and feet are particularly expressive. Extending toward the edges and openings of the stone, they reinforce the impression that the figures are reaching toward another realm, while their bodies remain anchored within the massive block.
Hori’s treatment of the figures is restrained and refined. The smooth surfaces of the bodies contrast strongly with the raw texture of the stone, demonstrating his characteristic ability to combine realistic human anatomy with the inherent character of natural stone.
The work can therefore be understood as an exploration of the relationship between desire, human existence, movement and transcendence. The stone represents the physical world and its limitations, while the human figures appear to push beyond those limitations, creating a poetic tension between weight and freedom, material and spirit.
Created in Montenegro in 2025, the sculpture continues Hori’s long-standing international practice of working directly with stone and connecting the human figure with natural materials and universal themes. Go to the World of Desire presents a powerful contemporary interpretation of the human condition—a movement from the tangible world toward the unknown world shaped by desire and imagination.
