Tomoaki Suzuki

Sculpture in Wood - Winner 2008

Born in Japan Tomoaki moved to the UK and attended Goldsmiths and the City and Guilds Art School, London. Tomoaki is unique in his use of sculptural portraiture to craft contemporary figures in wood. ‘I work within this traditional medium attempting to apply it to my own contemporary experience without resorting to past methods or patterns’. He focuses on the whole body including posture, pose, proportion and clothing which represents the model’s generation and time. He creates intimate wooden figures which activate the space and incite the viewer to think. In 2005 he was commissioned to produce the nativity at Trafalgar Square which will be re-erected annually. The experience he said broadened his outlook and concept to include religion and muliculturalism and was his first large commission in the UK. He has exhibited in solo shows in New York, London and Cologne and was part of New Contemporaries 2000 which toured to Milton Keynes, Manchester and London.