Yasushi Koyama

My artworks are animal sculptures described “Cute, innocent and humorous”. In my childhood I was making small animal figures from clay almost everyday. My father bought me animal picture books, and those books gave me inspirations for clay animals. So my sculptures naturally include a joy and an innocence of my childhood.

The materials of the animal sculptures are mainly wood and clay. I have learned traditional wood sculpturing in Japan, Finland, New Zealand and Romania. In Finland I learnt how to use an axe and other tools from Finnish sculptor Pasi Karjula in my art school. He cherished the traditional way of wood sculpturing with an axe and chisels as the same as the other sculptors who taught me.

In my artworks Finland meets Japan and Japan meets Finland. Both Finnish and Japanese cultures gave me my artistic expression technically and conceptually. Finnish painter Katja Tukiainen had an influence on my art. And Finnish sculptor Kim Simonsson inspired me with innocence of cartoonish sculpture. At the same time “Neo-pop art” represented by Japanese painter Yoshitomo Nara and Japanese culture Manga & Anime have had an influence on my art language of cuteness. The cultural tie between Finland and Japan is old, but it is constantly renewing every day even now in my artwork.