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Love

Akio Takamori

Harborview Medical Center

Stoneware figures take the shape of a simple, powerful message.

Akio Takamori (1950–2017). LOVE, 2008. Glazed stoneware, wood, and paint. Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: 4Culture

Inside a small alcove in the Level 6 elevator lobby of Harborview Medical Center’s Norm Maleng Building, a set of stoneware figures spell “LOVE,” their bodies bent to form the shapes of the letters. Posed individually and in pairs, the figures wear traditional Japanese clothing in colorful hues and detailed patterns.

Japanese-American artist Akio Takamori made these pieces in response to the way he perceived the needs of the patients, families, and visitors at the hospital. “The shallow niche becomes a stage,” he said at the time the works were commissioned. “Perhaps at first glance, the viewer may not see the word the figures spell out, as I wanted my piece to have a quiet existence. I wanted my work to blend in with the warm and calm interior of the building.” Three large digital photographs of the figures’ faces hang nearby, extending the artwork’s presence while contrasting the stoneware pieces with their scale and emphasis.
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Akio Takamori (1950–2017). LOVE (detail), 2008. Glazed stoneware, wood, and paint. Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: 4Culture
 
 

About the Location

Harborview Medical Center

For more than a century, Harborview Medical Center has functioned as a unique community and regional resource. It is a county hospital, a teaching and research institution, a regional trauma and burn center, and the primary health care provider for many low-income and disenfranchised people in the community. Harborview embraces its mission of treating everybody…

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