Year: 2012
Medium: wood, acrylic
Dimensions: 55 x 20 x 20 cm (21 5/8 x 7 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.)
Acquired from a private collection, 2023
Kato creates not only paintings, but also engages with sculpture in his artistic practice. This work was presented as an outdoor installation at the “2012 Rokko Meets Art - Art Walk”. Kato exhibited several wooden sculptures amidst an expanse of lush autumnal wild grass, intending for them to become one with the greenery and soil of the forest. In larger sculptures, trees penetrate and seemingly grow out of the torso of figures that are lying down. Several smaller works, including this one, appear to be sprouting directly from the ground. In Kato’s wooden sculptures, the changing of natural materials over time is incorporated into the scope of his artistic expression as an obvious truth, just as our physical forms eventually return to earth following death. The large bud growing out of the top of the head looks like it will bloom at any second. Kato’s work serves as a reminder of the cycle of life, wherein being born inevitably entails a life consuming other living entities.
