Press release
April 4, 2018
JAPANESE SCULPTOR TO EXHIBIT VIVID COLOUR DRAWINGS IN EDINBURGH GALLERY
Hironori Katagiri: Lifetide
May 11 – June 2, 2018, at Birch Tree Gallery, Edinburgh
Private View: Thursday, May 10th , 6-8pm
Japanese sculptor Hironori Katagiri is best known for his impressive large-scale site-specific public
sculptures across Europe and Japan. This is the first time Katagiri is exhibiting his drawings in Edinburgh
alongside his domestic scale stone sculptures. “Lifetide”is a solo exhibition of colour and form celebrating
the rich complexity of life.
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Katagiri and his wife, Scottish sculptor Kate Thomson, work both at their Ukishima Sculpture Studio in
Japan, and their second studio in Edinburgh.
Drawing is a vital part of Katagiri’
sculpture (from rough idea sketches, to proposals, and
plans). For over 40 years, drawing as an art form in its
own right has also been an important part of his
creative practice. In a new series made especially for
this exhibition he draws with vivid colour pencil on
characteristic Indian hand-made cotton paper. He then
cuts, reverses or replaces sections to create shifting
perceptions like musical chord inversions, putting each
colour harmony into a new context.
Image: ‘Lifetide’, colour pencil on Indian cotton paper,
30.5 x 30.5 mm, 2018; photo: Hironori Katagiri
Since he studied painting and sculpture at art school,
colour and form have been symbiotic fascinations. In the late 70s he found drawing gave him more
freedom to experiment with colour, cutting and inverting sections to explore new relationships and
harmonies. 20 years ago he started drawing with graphite on 3m sheets of roughly textured handmade
Nepalese paper. After the 3.11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, Katagiri’
monochrome inversions in “Light and Silence”series of drawings expressed the void left behind by
catastrophic loss and attempted to find solace. This and his darker, more melancholic “Ghost Memory”
series are powerful emotional responses to the devastation he saw in the coastal city of Kesennuma where
he was born and grew up.
s colour and
Katagiri constantly returns to previous themes and
techniques, re-editing them to develop and refine
his understanding of the tides of life. Each art
form has a quality that is unique to them, yet they
inform each other. While the sculptures distil the
essence of life into pure abstract form, the
drawings are perhaps more immediate responses
to the ebb and flow of life.
Image: ‘Streamline’, Japanese basalt,
490 x 90 x 100(h) mm; photo: Hironori Katagiri
When drawing purely for its own sake Katagiri is
free from the demands of gravity that apply to sculpture, and he can explore an alternative reality of space
and texture. Like his more famous sculptures, his drawings have a presence and power that resonates with
our instinctive desire to connect with nature and each other.
“Searching for essential form, proportion, texture and composition that expose the qualities of the material,
and evoke people's senses, memories and imagination, I want to inspire people to look with fresh eyes, to
explore the fundamental nature of being and the world that encompasses it.”– says Katagiri.
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s web-site: www.ukishima.net
Katagiri Hironori is working in Scotland April – May 10th, 2018 and available for interview/ photos.
Contact: Jurgita Galbraith, Birch Tree Gallery
art@birchtreegallery.co.uk
0131 556 4000
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