Toru Yamasaki

Toru Yamasaki was born in Osaka-fu in 1960. He graduated from the Osaka University of Arts Fine Arts Department in 1982, majoring in painting. In the same year, he held his first solo exhibition at Utsobo Gallery, followed by numerous solo exhibitions at galleries around Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. Dismantling the form of traditional painting, he creates 3D works by using semi-transparent polyester resin mixed with paint as the painting surface and replacing the frame of the work with a rectangular piece of wood. The paintings, whose undersides can be seen, and which can be rotated, have come to take on the form of practical furniture. Yamasaki exhibited at “Art Now ’86”. Usage and engagement through appreciation of the works was further promoted via his “Sculpture Costume” and the “Sculpture Pet” series in the 1990s. He has exhibited his work at “Beyond the Photographic Frame: 11 Recent Works” (Art Tower Mito) in 1990, “Centrifugal Sculpture: An Aspect of Japanese Sculpture in the Last Decade” (The National Museum of Art, Osaka) in 1992, Shiga Annual ’96’s “Handmaid Objects”(The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga) in 1996, and “What is Appreciation of Art?” (Ashiya City Museum of Art and History). In recent years, he has created and released works with a focus on photography.