Japan

Toshio Iezumi studied glass-working
for two years in the Tokyo Glass Art Institute, where he began to make
sculptures out of sheet glass. This work culminated in the development of two
techniques; the first: laminating sheets of glass with adhesive into a block as
large as one wants; the second: carving glass directly, using a stone carving
technique merged with traditional glass-processing. These techniques have enabled
Iezumi to produce glass sculptures of a size and form not previously
possible. Iezumi is
currently a Professor at the Kurashiki University of the Arts in Japan and has
been exhibiting internationally for over 20 years in both solo and group
exhibitions. With works in a number of esteemed public collections including Corning
Museum of Glass, New York, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, and
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. Iezumi has been exhibiting regularly in Sculpture by the Sea since 2007 and exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus, Denmark in
2009 and 2011. Iezumi’s
works combine abstract form with transmitted and reflected light. He writes: "I make my
works from two points of view - the contour of the piece and the optical
reflection and depth."

"Light reflects and refracts inside the body of the work so a complex depth emerges in its form."

Haruyuki
Uchida is a renowned Japanese sculptor in the field of kinetic art. Uchida uses
magnets to create illusionary effects in his works. His work is often characterized
by bright colours such as Shu-iro, a bright Japanese red. Uchida
has had many solo exhibitions in Kyoto, Tokyo and Osaka. He has also been the
recipient of many awards, including the 29th Teijirou Nakahara Prize
in 1998 and the Grand Prize at the 15th International Art Exhibition
of Japan in 1984. At the International Symposium of Open-Air Sculpture in Pusan
in 1994, Uchida was awarded a prize from the National Museum of Contemporary
Art, Korea. In 1997, Uchida was the recipient of the Grand Prize at the 17th
Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Sculpture. Uchida
is represented in numerous important collections in Japan including the National
Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum; the Museum of
Modern Art, Kamakura; Sapporo Sculpture Garden; Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of
Art; and Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art. He is also included in international
collections such as, Pusan Olympic Park, Taipei Fine Arts Festival, the
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea, and the Holmes a Court Collection.

"The artist aims to create sculptures that are closely connected to gravity."

Akiho Tata is a collaborative of two artists from
Japan. Akiho was born in 1959 in Takamatsu, Japan and graduated from the Meizen
University Japan in 1980. Tata was born in 1957 in Takamatsu, Japan, and attended
Nagoya University, Japan.

Akiho debuted as a stone sculptor in 1989 at the
Kasaoka Stone Sculpture Symposium, where Tata assisted her with carving. Since
then, working under the name of Akiho Tata, the artists (now married) have
exhibited at a large number of symposiums and exhibitions throughout Japan.

The artists have been awarded many prizes including
the Nagano Sculpture Prize and the Takamatsu City Prize. Their work can be
found in many public collections throughout Japan.

"In Australia the mysterious power of the natural forms creates a feeling of the fantastic."

Koichi
Ogino has been exhibiting regularly in Sculpture by the Sea since 2004. Ogino writes poetically about his
inspiration and artistic processes: "I live in a small world,
looking up to the sky to see clouds, feeling the wind and staring at mountains
to think of woods, rocks, and streams. And then I imagine seas. My expression
is possible only here. Here comes spring. I pretend to look busy until the
silence of winter comes back. I love the winter season. In the winter of
Niigata, all the ground is covered with snow. All living things fall into
sleep. My heart melts when I face stones in silence. They breathe in my thought
and tell me something. Shapes are completed all too soon. Various people live on the earth,
having their own thoughts and ways. Although they exist individually, once the
individuals gather, a much stronger power will appear. I think gathering
various personalities’ makes for powerful expressions. We don’t live alone. We
live supporting each other. When I face stone produced from the earth, it fires
my imagination, and leads me. My works are collaborations between the stone and
myself."

"We live on the earth having nothing to do with a lot of other people. To help each other, we need to be considerate of our neighbourhood and be at peace with the world."