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In Some Small Way, explorations in size and scale in recent Japanese sculpture

I have been publishing essays and articles on various artists and ideas within art practice in art magazines and journals since 1985. These include Frieze (the leading magazine of contemporary art internationally), Art Monthly as well as catalogue essays (e.g. Tate Modern, Baltic) - some thirty-four pieces to date. This article represents this aspect of my practice. It is based on research which has received funding from UCL, The Sasakawa Foundation, the Anglo Daiwa Foundation and a visiting Professorship to Mushashino Arts University in Tokyo. The article is based on original research into the influence of historic sculptors such as Denchu Hirakushi, on contemporary Japanese sculptors such as Suzuki Tomoaki, and on new developments in contemporary practice by artists working in Japan and the UK. The research has highlighted very different aesthetic concerns including differing notions of completeness within sculptural practice, differing notions of size and scale, as well as very interesting uses of traditional and advanced new technology as in the work of Mariko Mori. This article condenses a considerable amount of research describing the work of a number of contemporary Japanese artists, with the aim to introduce their work to wider audiences. This relates to parallel collaborative research with the Henry Moore Institute, Nihon Gendai Chokoku (Japanese Contemporary sculpture) exploring the relationship between the development of modern sculpture in the West and Japan.