Toru Fukuda began developing his unique sculpting technique while still in high school, blending traditional Japanese inlay with natural wood elements and his imagination to create life-sized, free-standing sculptures of insects and plants. Meticulously blending craft and art, Fukuda takes advantage of the wood’s natural hues and textures, solely utilizing unpainted wood from naturally growing trees to create his pieces. This intensely laborious process, which Fukuda refers to as 3D wood inlay, captures the details and spirit of its subjects, creating an effective illusion that the insects are actually alive and have simply alighted on their elegantly carved bases for a movement before preparing to take flight once more.
Profile
| Born in Hokkaido, Japan in 1994 Lives and works in Saitama, Japan |
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| 2015 | Graduated from Traditional Arts Super College Of Kyoto, Wood crafts course |
| 2013 | Graduated from Hokkaido Otoineppu Art & Craft Highschool |
| 【Selected Solo Exhibitions】 | |
| 2021 | Toru Fukuda: Mushikago (SEIZAN GALLERY TOKYO 凸, Tokyo) Toru Fukuda: Ni-Wa (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo) |
| 2019 | Toru Fukuda (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo) |
| 【Selected Group Exhibitions】 | |
| 2023 | In the Genes, Taking Marvelous Meiji Craftsmanship into the Future (Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Gifu; Nagano Prefectural Art Museum, Nagano; Abeno Harukas, Osaka; The Mitsui Memorial Museum, Tokyo; The Suiboku Museum, Toyama, Tokyama) Pokémon Kogei: Playful Encounters of Pokémon and Japanese Craft (National Crafts Museum, Ishikawa; Ovation Hollywood, Los Angeles) |
| 2021 | Bi no Yokan 2021: Mono no Aware (Takashimaya, Kyoto; Takashimaya, Aichi; Takashimaya, Osaka) Takumi no Bi (Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum of Art, Hokkaido) |
| 2020 | Three persons exhibition “Rinshimoku” (Atelier cypris, Osaka) LOOK CLOSER（Micheko Galerie, Germany) PURE POETRY（SEIZAN gallery、New York） |
| 2019 | Kino Monodukuri Tanpou: 20-nin no Shigoto (Living design center Ozone, Tokyo) Mushitsukai-ten (f.e.i art gallery, Kanagawa) INSECTS (Gallery Art Morimoto, Tokyo, continued in 2021, 2022) KOGEI Art Fair Kanazawa 2019: KUMU KANAZAWA: THE SHARE HOTELS (Yuusha Gallery Sapporo, Hokkaido) |
| 2018 | Where It Echoes: The Art of Wood Sculptures (Yuusha Gallery, Aichi) |
| 2017 | The New Look of Contemporary Japanese Artisans (Hideharu Fukasaku Gallery Roppongi, Tokyo) Spring Ephemeral (Atelier cypris, Osaka) Something Precious (SEIZAN Gallery, Tokyo, through 2019) |
| 2016 | Two persons Exhibition “Kazuma Abe × Toru Fukuda” (CUBE SPACE GALLERY, Tokyo) Takumi-ten (Gallery Garan Nishiogi, Tokyo) |
