Japanese sculptor Katsura Funakoshi carves human portrait sculptures that explore Japanese historical and ceremonial artistic tradition with a contemporary twist. Two of his pieces have been photographed by Tomoki Amai for Haider Ackermann’s A#3.

Each of Funakoshi’s figures exudes a quiet personality of its own, with haunting eyes that convey an immediate and real presence, in contrast to the chalky, rough skin that is left somewhat unfinished. Funakoshi uses the soft, malleable camphor wood to realise his sculptures, enhancing the realism through the wood’s natural flesh tones and the permutations in the grain.

“I’m interested in human existence, a statement concerning humanity. The material I use is important. I am seeking the perfect tension or moment between the material and the image.”

The examples chosen for A#3 exhibit a purity of form that is often distorted in Funakoshi’s other works, with body parts exaggerated and extreme feminine forms or complete androgyny suggested.

Watch a short documentary of Katsura Funakoshi’s work in his studio below:

(Disclaimer: narration is in Japanese.)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYKcc7kmclM[/youtube]