Katsura Funakoshi

Sphinx

With his emotional, conflicted sculptures the Japanese artist Katsura Funakoshi (*1951) has developed an anatomically intriguing, yet alienated form of sculpture. Funakoshi, whose work has been seen in many biennials and has been internationally represented since the 1980s, goes beyond Asian contexts to make use of art history in general. For his torsos carved out of fragrant camphor wood, he employs the medieval art of woodcutting, but transfers the old technique into a modern format. This catalogue, which accompanies the exhibition in Wiesbaden, focuses on his complex of works, “A Tale of the Sphinx”, consisting of several busts and selected drawings.