KAZUO KADONAGA
Kazuo Kadonaga was born in 1946 in Ishikawa, Japan, and currently lives and works in the same prefecture. The artist descends from a forestry family, yet chose instead to peruse creative endeavors the late 1960s. Initially he explored painting, but in the early 1970s, Kadonaga eschewed the personal, artistic expression of his own hand, opting to examine processes which allow for his chosen materials to become their own self-representing subjects. His works expose the medium’s innate characteristics, which often determine the artwork’s final form. Though early on in his career he was impressed by the works of Arte Povera, Mono-ha and Process artists, Kadonaga soon developed a practice which deeply and systematically explores materials from the inside out.
Indicative of his unique art practice, Kadonaga transforms industrially produced natural materials using industrial techniques, resulting in forms that convey pure expressions of the material’s inherent potential.
“Each living thing, plant or animal, has a soul: my art is revealing the soul.” - Kazuo Kadonaga
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