Sculpture is supposedly the most solid and permanent of the creative arts, so it is a paradox that an artist like Junichi Mori — whose work often focuses on impermanence and evanescence — has chosen to work in this style, using materials like marble and wood, instead of something more fleeting and tenuous such as spider's webs or dandelion fluff.

But the artistic act is often a way of fighting against the ultimate darkness and a quest for immortality, so perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised that those who feel they're in the shadow of death sometimes veer toward the most stable and perennial forms of art. Opposites, after all, attract in a very dialectical way.

The Mizuma Art Gallery, situated along what was formerly the outer moat of Edo Castle, roughly halfway between Ichigaya and Iidabashi stations, is presenting a small selection of new works by Mori under the title "Tetany."