Katsura funakoshi biography sample
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Hakone Open-Air Museum to Host Funakoshi Katsura’s Exhibition
Biography
Born in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, 1951
1975 Graduated from Tokyo Zokei University
1977 Graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, majoring in sculpture
1986-87 Artist-in-residence in London, Japan
Awards
1995 The 26th Teiniro Nakahara Prize for Excellence
1997 Received the 18th Hirakushi Danchu Award
2011 Medal with Purple Ribbon
Exhibition History
1988 “43rd Venice Biennale”, Italy
1992 “Documenta IX” Kassel, Germany
2003-2004 “Katsura Kawakoshi: 1980-2003” Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan / Tochi Art Museum, Tochigi, Japan / Asahikawa Art Museum, Hokkaido, Japan / Yamamatsu City Museum of Art, Japan / Iwate Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan / Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
2008 “Art Deco Space, Sculpture, Drawing, and Prints in the Residence of Keika Norikoshi” Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art
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Exotropia: Drawings by Funakoshi Katsura / HOSHINO Futoshi
Funakoshi Katsura (1951–), one of Japan’s most distinguished contemporary sculptors, has worked continuously in both drawing and sculpture. Among his recent solo exhibitions, Summer Villa: The Works of Katsura Funakoshi in Art Deco Space (Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, 2008) was noteworthy for showing his rich drawings in addition to his sculptures. The exhibition was exceptional because—as the subtitle makes explicit—it revealed the harmony between his sculptures and drawings in an art deco setting [*1]. Moreover, it was exceptional in that it helped us fully understand the importance of drawing in Funakoshi’s work.
In his most recent solo exhibition (Ando Gallery, April 1 to June 28, 2014), Funakoshi showed eleven drawings, all of which had been made a few months prior. It is surprising that a well-known sculptor would mount a solo exhibition comprised only of drawings. Also surprising is that the works were
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Katsura Funakoshi
Katsura Funakoshi is a sculptor working predominantly in camphor wood and marble, generating figurative carvings that render the physical bond between mind and body. Inspired bygd Japanese temple portrait sculptures from the Kamakura period and his father’s career as a sculptor, his works are a poignant combination of fantasy and realism. His figures are most often molded from the waist up, with absurd limbs or branches projecting from their bodies. Funakoshi yearns to illustrate the tension of human existence that is at once emotionally complex and physically demanding. Maintaining the imperfections of his materials, the artist addresses the “moment between the ämne and the image,” summoning a reality that fryst vatten simultaneously at odds with nature and a product of it.
Funakoshi has exhibited extensively in Japanese institutions including Tokyo Metropolitan Teiein Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, okänt City Museum of Cont