Katsura Funakoshi: Whispering Gaze observes the visionary sculptor Katsura Funakoshi as he quietly breathes life into camphor wood. Take a look as he works in his atelier, preps for exhibitions, and speaks at lectures. The simple, warm and gentle figures carved out by Funakoshi can be attributed to the harmony of precise calculations and accidental occurrences. His human-like sculptures draw in beholders with their distant marble gaze as if pondering philosophical thoughts and projecting subtle yet bold emotions.
Biography
Born in 1951 in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, Katsura Funakoshi is a contemporary artist living and working in Tokyo. He received a B.A. from the Tokyo University of Art and Design in 1975 and a M.A. from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1977.
The son of a sculptor, Funakoshi is known primarily for his own figurative sculptures of legless mannequins in painted camphor wood. The sculptures, which often consist of torsos, heads, and the occasional misplaced human appendage, are praised for their haunting quality, elicited by the soft, human-like texture of the painted camphor wood combined with the disconcertingly realistic marble eyeballs. He has exhibited worldwide, including at the Venice Biennale, the Biennale de São Paulo, the Documenta IX, and in several solo shows in the U.S., England, and Japan.
