Inuzuka installs fantastic ceramic world at IU Kokomo Gallery
Shapes from animal and plant life, from nature and from fantasy, overlap in the art installations of Sadashi Inuzuka, the featured artist at the Indiana University Kokomo Art Gallery.
These are two of the hundreds of sculptures that will be featured in 'Installation by Sadashi Inuzuka' at the IU Kokomo Art Gallery now through April 22.
The Japanese-born Inuzuka creates hundreds of individual earthenware forms and arranges them in large installations, expressing his "endless wonder at the world in which we live." On his Web site, Inuzuka says he makes site specific installations that "address the relationship between the natural world and human society. My current works focus on ecological imbalance and the impact of pollution or invasive non-native species on local habitats. Each installation is an aesthetic and physical interpretation of these issues, and the sculptural elements are metaphors for the natural world and our relationship to it."
With each installation, Inuzuka is concerned with the transformation of a given space into a more spiritual one, which allows for meditation or reflection. "The aesthetic of multiple units is intrinsic to my repetitive, obsessive working process where I am completely absorbed by the power of material and the momentum of making," he says. "It is this merging of self with the whole which I experience as an artist, which I see parallel in human society and the natural world, and which I wish to share with the viewer standing in the space of my work."
Reviewer Robin Laurence wrote that, while Inuzuka pieces often remind viewers of fantastic sea creatures, the artist shapes the clay into "ridges and spirals, twists and ruffles, . . . puckers and coils" that go beyond a mere imitation of the natural. In an Inuzuka installation, familiar fossil forms are altered and "come together in a clamorous drama of evolution," Laurence stated.
Over the past two decades, galleries throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries have sought out Inuzuka's work for solo and group exhibitions. He teaches in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Admission to Installation by Sadashi Inuzuka at the IU Kokomo Art Gallery is free, and the exhibit runs through April 22. Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Wednesdays, until 8 p.m.; Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m.; and Sundays, 1p.m. to 5 p.m. Call 765-455-9523 or visit www.iuk.edu/gallery for more information.
Funding for exhibitions at the IU Kokomo Art Gallery comes in part from the Kokomo Community Arts Commission, the Tippecanoe Arts Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Indiana Arts Commission/Indiana Endowment for the Arts.
