Biography

Exhibitions

Selected Exhibitions

2009
Japan Traditional Metal Art Exhibition, Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan (’10, ’11)
2012
Hiroshima KAZARU Exhibition, Hiroshima, Japan
2013
Takaoka City Art Craft Exhibition, Toyama, Japan
Art Craft of the Next Generation Exhibition, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Japan (’14)
2014
Essence and Quality Kosuke Kato × Kei Ogawa Duet Exhibition, Gallery Hinoki plus, Japan
50th Kanagawa Prefectural Art Exhibition, Japan
Tea Ceremony of Light, SHUHALLY, Kanagawa, Japan
Metal Art Exhibition of Hiroshima City University, Akitaka Municipal Yachiyonooka Museum of Art, Japan
2015
Nuit Blanche Kyoto, Japan
Solo exhibition, Powerful Expressions, Seikado Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
2016
Group exhibition, Keisho-Ha III: A New Materialism, Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
kougei project vol.2, Ai Kowada Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
view – Kosuke Kato Solo exhibition, Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2017
Art Stage Singapore, Singapore
TEFAF Maastricht, The Netherlands (’18, ’19, ’20, ’21)
Evolution of Metal Works, Wako, Tokyo, Japan
2018
Palm Beach M + C, USA
Seattle Art Fair, USA (’19)
Art Miami, USA (’19)
2019
Legato – Kosuke Kato Solo Exhibition, Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
35th Tansuio Award Winner Exhibition, Gallery Kochukyo, Tokyo, Japan
Silhouettes of Tomorrow, Yufuku Gallery, London, UK
2020
Opening Ceremony, A Lighthouse called Kanata, Tokyo, Japan
EQUILIBRIUM, Bermel von Luxemberg Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2021
Art Fair Tokyo, Japan

Awards

2010　玉川大学芸術学部卒業制作展　学部長賞
2012　広島kAZARU展　広島市長賞
2012　いまからまめさら展　山中源兵衛賞
2013　次世代工芸展　秋元雄史賞
2015　Prix Villa Kujoyama, Institut français du Japon Kansai 2015 賞
2016　いまからまめさら展　アンスティチュ・フランセ日本特別賞
2019　第35回淡水翁賞　優秀賞

Public Collections

フィラデルフィア美術館（アメリカ）

加藤貢介 Kosuke
Kato Kosuke
Kato

Cadenza I (2019)｜ダマスカス鋼

H21 x W93 x D18 cm

Kosuke
Kato

Profile

1988 Born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
2010 Tamagawa University
2013 Hiroshima City University, MFA
2013 Lives and works in Kanagawa

01 Exhibitions More
02 Awards More
03 Public Collections More

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About
the ArtistAbout
the Artist

Kosuke Kato (b. 1988 –) is one of the leaders of an up-and-coming generation of metal artists in Japan who, while embracing the storied traditions of metal within Japanese history, strive for vistas never before seen in their respective materials. From samurai swords to armour, from tea ceremony ware to ceremonial vessels, metal has long been engrained in the national consciousness as only second to ceramics, a more tactile and utilitarian material, and the material of Damascus has no true roots in this island nation’s history. Yet Kato wields the metal that is Damascus steel with a minimal elegance, transforming the austere and medieval material into a compelling medium for abstraction within contemporary art. In Kato’s metal facades are the seven seas of serenity, an eternal loop that plays on and on, his silhouettes accentuating the raw beauty of Damascus in all its true glory.

With his lead work for his debut exhibition at Yufuku Gallery in 2016 being acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and with a solo exhibition already slated for the Samurai Museum in Berlin, Germany, Kato represents the next generation of Japanese metal artists who are pushing the boundaries of their materials to new heights.

Damascus steel is known as a hard gray metal decorated with speckled, silvery ripples that resemble the flow of water, babbling streams and primordial pools of microcosms and microorganisms. Kato’s creative process within Damascus is a highly intricate process akin to the forging of Katana samurai swords. First taking 7 different sheets of iron ore and nickel, the artist piles them together and heats the materials into a single unit at a temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius. Once this temperature is reached, the process of hammering the metal, folding, then cutting the metal in two continues repeatedly, while throwing sand in to create and solidify a base billet. After compressing the billet, a pattern is embedded within the metal, and then polished out to achieve a metallic sheen. An acidic liquid is then applied to the surface, and the multi-layered Damascus motifs begin to rise from within the metal and appear on Kato’s facades. Lastly, the treated metal is hammer-raised into Kato’s distinctively serene and minimal silhouettes. TEFAF Maastricht will mark the debut of Kato’s new sculptural series Crescendo, which brings forth a riveting movement of vertical ebb and flow through the use of an attached metal pedestal. Clearly inspired by his Kanata predecessors such as Sueharu Fukami and Satoru Ozaki, Kato is creating a new realm of abstraction within Damascus that has not been pursued before.