The exhibition unfolds between Piazza Duomo, Piazza Carducci, Church and Cloister of Sant’Agostino, pier of Marina di Pietrasanta
“Beyond Form” is the title of the exhibition dedicated to Kan Yasuda (Bibai, 1945), celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Japanese master’s time living and working in the Tuscan town of Pietrasanta.
The event celebrates 50 years of the artist’s presence and work in the Versilian town
The exhibition also marks the 30th anniversary of his first local show in 1995 and includes the awarding of honorary citizenship by the city’s mayor, Alberto Stefano Giovannetti, in recognition of Yasuda’s tireless artistic work in collaboration with local artisans (Studio Angeli) and, above all, for bringing prestige to the area through his presence and practice.
The sculptures were conceived to create a synergy between the artworks and the harmonious symmetry of the urban layout, with the aim of capturing and enhancing the genius loci while embracing the principle of shizen: aligning with the models and laws of nature.
Thus, in Piazza del Duomo, in the Church and Cloister of Sant’Agostino, and on the pier in Marina di Pietrasanta, Kan Yasuda’s creations resonate with their surroundings, as the artist himself has often emphasized, entering into deep harmony with the spaces that host them.
His hallmark is the ability to fuse Eastern philosophy with the Western sculptural tradition
This vision, integrating the works with everything around them, is rooted in the artist’s Zen culture. It highlights the notion of impermanence, based on a pantheistic view of existence, wherein “everything is in one, and one is in everything,” as underscored in the exhibition’s introductory text.
These principles have guided Yasuda ever since he arrived in Rome at the age of 25 in 1970 on a scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts, drawn by Italy’s rich sculptural and architectural heritage, whose magnificence had long influenced the East.
Michelangelo’s masterpieces led him to Pietrasanta, where the Tuscan master had selected marble for his own great works.
During the opening, the mayor awarded him honorary citizenship
Yasuda’s is a consistent and tireless search: one that, over the decades, has succeeded in fusing Eastern philosophy with the Western sculptural tradition. In doing so, he has created a true philosophy embodied in his sculptural practice.
At the peak of a series of important exhibitions, from the Trajan Markets in Rome to the Parco del Valentino in Turin, and the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Kan now offers his adopted city a profound reflection on his long and distinguished career.
ZEN SPIRIT IN MARBLE
By Luciano Caprile.
With a gentle and attentive gaze, a tender smile, a slender, agile frame, and smooth skin: everything about Kan Yasuda defies his age. Above all, his spirit. Born in Bibai, on the island of Hokkaidō, in 1945, he graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts and, thanks to a scholarship, moved to Italy: first to Rome, then to Pietrasanta in 1970. Welcoming those who arrive by train is Chiave di sogno (Key of dream), a luminous block of Carrara marble, softly polished and pierced by a large central void that captures the eye and projects it toward a beyond that transcends any possible image. And Yasuda has placed many of these dreams in locations across the world, drawing on the culture of his native country, which fosters a refined spirituality (zen) in the gestures and compositions of its artists. As such, his marble and bronze sculptures evoke unexpected emotions, acting like mirrors that speak to the unconscious, triggering reflections that come from paths often unknown to the viewer.
Bruno Munari, after visiting Yasuda’s first Italian exhibition in Milan in 1991, declared:
"His works contain nothing, yet represent everything." An apparent oxymoron that hits the mar, since nothing and everything seem to expand and converse within the sinuous unfolding of the forms or, by contrast, within a certain geometric and seemingly static construction, sometimes redeemed by soft, ascending curves. Indeed, surprise and disorientation are among the effects Yasuda deliberately provokes, especially with his monumental structures, which place the viewer in a position of awe, almost submission, due to the compositional harmony that always emerges at first glance. So much so that the experience can resemble an oracle, astonishing, and perhaps at first, impenetrable. In short, one does not come away unchanged from an encounter with such a sculpture, as if it had fallen from elsewhere, along with its maker. Then again, the same happens with all things whose beginning and end we do not understand, when they suddenly enter into our lives.
Kan Yasuda
Oltre la Forma
Pietrasanta
Piazza Duomo
Piazza Carducci
Chiesa, Chiostro di Sant’Agostino
Marina di Pietrasanta, pontile
Fino/until 21/09
