Yoshitoshi Kanemaki, a Japanese contemporary artist, was born in Chiba Prefecture and Graduated from The Department of Sculpture, Tama Art University, Tokyo.
Kanemaki’s works are mainly based on wood carving. He has superb craftsmanship using the technology “ichiboku-zukuri” to form logs into a one-piece sculpture. The surreal style of the work is strangely cute and the sense of difference strongly highlights the personal characteristics.
Kanemaki’s creative process is simple and pure, employs ancient Japanese techniques. Before getting down to sculpting, he will first draw a draft, or directly sketch the pattern on the camphor wood. From here on begins the arduous task creating the final piece. In his own words, “merely pours time and questions” into the mix to create art.
“Looking deep into the world we live, we realize that everyone holds hesitations or inconsistencies that they can never answer.” — Yoshitoshi Kanemaki
It seems that the elements of time are also embedded in the sculpture. “The irregular shape that deviates from human form to present the ambivalent emotions” adds another dimension, both philosophical and artistic to the way the sculpture is perceived. “It could be you,” he says. And that is what makes his art so compelling and intriguing even though their morbidity form is jarring at first glance.
Yoshitoshi Kanemaki had participated in “Bishojo：Young Pretty Girls in Art History” at the MoNTUE in 2019. Exhibited with 《コトホギ・カプリス(Congratulation・Caprice)》, a bride sculpture can be viewed from all perspective, the head is designed to 360 degrees, and each expression represents the mood of the bride when she is married, such as joy, tension, crying, sympathetic and so on.