Quiet but hardcore: surreal wooden sculptures from Japan
Ayako Kita makes beautifully crafted wooden sculptures. They're quiet but hardcore, tender but surreal. Even though the sculptures are pretty small and delicate, Kita starts them all with a powerful chainsaw. Outside her studio, she chops up huge tree trunks into smaller bits. Then, she works with each smaller chunk to carve it into shape. The detail is impeccable. Each strand of hair and facial feature is perfectly sculpted and realistically painted. The figurines are lifelike but stylised. They seem innocent, but they often have a weird, folklorish twist. Some have four feet like a horse, wh...
Bio
Ayako Kita (she/her) is a Japanese artist born in 1981 in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Early life
Kita knew she wanted to be a sculptor from a young age. "When I was in fourth grade, I made vegetables using clay," she says. "I really enjoyed it and was good at it, so I wanted to pursue this further."
Did you know?
If Kita wasn't an artist, she would like to be an archaeologist.