Page 20 - ART POOL : 11 Contemporary Art Profiles

ATARU kOzURU | JApAn
www.ataru-sculpture.com

I spent my early childhood in Fukuoka, Japan and was raised in now and then, I visit and draw parallel inspirations from the
Boston, U.S.A. Having been greatly influenced by my family’s landscape of the American southwest where natural and the
tradition in Japanese ceramics, art has been an integral part of my manmade forms seem to ntermingle in the sculptural sense. I have
everyday life. I have gained respect for the pure use of material in elicited inspiration from my own far eastern culture in architecture
Japanese ceramics and architecture. This, coupled with my interest and gardens as well. In Japanese gardens, the sensibility of manmade
in ancient cultures, have played a vital role in my sculpture. Stone forms fuses with the natural. The use of and expression in stone
carving in Italy and France greatly influenced my understanding of in Eastern and Occidental cultures differ in their expression. The
European stone culture. juxtaposition of the manmade and the natural elements from both
Over the years, having great interest in ancient cultures. I have the east and west are elements I integrate into my sculpture.
visited sites in Europe, north Africa, and American continents. I have Ultimately, the cultural experience I have accumulated over the years
been inspired by the history of architecture, urban innovations, and has become strata - many layers for my ideas in expression today. I
ideas of different periods (in relation to sculpture). continue to live and work in both in Fukuoka, Japan and the U.S.A.

Comet series began with the idea of the beginning of the earth.
It is thought that comet brought water=life to earth. I also
consider these sculptures as a garden, a sanctuary for the mind.
The chiseled textured surface of the sculpture can transport a
| ComeT x, sCUlpTUre BlACk GrAniTe 9x10x11 in. | 9x28x29 Cm. viewer’s mind to the dune of the desert. And the water, like oasis
| ComeT s, sCUlpTUre red GrAniTe 4x10x13 in. | 10x27x34 Cm. that becomes precious, beautiful, and almost haunting.
20