Fumitaka Kudo carries out his personal research by shaping marble to achieve a formal purity that is still unexplored, as the depths of the human soul in which the artist immerses himself investigating the limits of matter.
The soft and fluid marble shapes sculpted by Fumitaka’s hands resemble the shape of water, the element of primitive life in which the affinities between human beings and the underwater world emerge: shapes of swords or spears, skeletons of cetaceans or silhouettes of swimmers, thin shapes of an underwater universe; they all emerge thanks to the sculptor’s slow gesture. In Tempo al tempo, the artist exhibits a series of smooth sculptures in white and black marble, with simple shapes that recall an ancestral and underwater world. The sculptures are placed on pedestals that support them in the air, making the material light as if it were suspended in the water, despite its natural heavy weight.
The use of white marble reminds the artist of a light that springs from the depths of the soul, whereas the black marble reminds him of the darkness within each of us. According to Fumitaka, touching marble is like touching the soul: «deep inside me, there is a great sea, and to create a work, I dive into the depths of this sea to find something. When I find something, a mysterious shape, I take it out and create it three-dimensionally or on paper. In this way, in order to create, I find inside me an emotion or a feeling that is universal».
For Fumitaka, marble is a fascinating material since it is eternal and allows him to create something that lasts over time and can be preserved forever and, since it is neither too cold nor too warm, it seems to be something alive. Despite being a difficult and laborious process, the artist creates sculptures with great formal smoothness that are pleasant to the touch.
Before starting to carve, the artist starts with the research and a quick clean drawing.
Then he moves on to the marble using a procedure that includes several lines, as in the drawings: as many lines in the drawings as there are hands to smooth.
Fumitaka Kudo creates works with simple clean shapes which can arouse feelings of calm and peace, precisely because they derive from geometric and primitive shapes. The artist desires to convey this feeling of calm to the observers of his works.
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Fumitaka Kudo was born in Niigata, Japan, in 1981. He moved to Italy in 2002, where he perfected his art, focusing on sculpture, drawing and engraving. He graduated in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts of Carrara. The following year, he collaborated with the NATO Undersea Research Center (now "Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation") in La Spezia to create a permanent sculpture and also took part in the Harlem Studio Fellowship by the Montrasio Arte residency program for artists in New York.
He currently lives and works between Milan and Brianza, and exhibits in Europe and Japan.
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