Kensuke Yamada - "Boy", Ceramic, 6’ x 4’
“Closed eyes, the angle of the head with the blue ear and swayed armes are gestures of listening.
He is there to listen to wind, birds, animals, and seasons. When I visited the very beautiful open space at Edgewood Farm.
That is the scale and type of figure I wanted to make.
It was very specifically made for the area of cape cod.” —Kensuke
“In my sculpture I seek figurative extensions of these shared experiences. Clay has become another primary source of communication for me. The vocabulary consists of gestures, patterns, textures, colors and rhythms. In conversation these qualities bring the figure to life.”
With clay I look for sculptural conversations that evoke the beauty, the subtleties, the sadness and the humor of our everyday life. In viewing my sculpture I hope for people to enjoy the moment, rather then the movement of time. I hope for my work to fill the space between two seemingly distant things, to provide a connection and thus create the story of you and me.
Kensuke Yamada was born in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan and received his MFA at the University of Montana. He received his BA at The Evergreen State College in Washington. Kensuke’s exaggerated playful figurative work has been exhibited through out the United States and a residency at the Archie Bray Foundation and was the recipient of the 2009-2010 MJD Bray Fellowship award. He was a Resident Artist at The Clay Studio(Philadelphia) from 2012 - 2013. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Little Rock, Arkansas.