Hironori Katagiri

Hironori Katagiri

My abstract forms invite exploration of subtle sensation.  The experience of my work may at first be a very metaphysical feeling, strong enough to stimulate the viewer’s personal imagination and memories to ultimately create and articulate their own stories. I am trying to evoke everyone's senses, memories and imagination by using simple abstract shapes in drawing and sculpture. Each art form has a quality that is unique to them, yet they inform each other.  While the sculptures distil the essence of life into pure abstract form, the drawings are perhaps more immediate responses to the ebb and flow of life.

Hironori Katagiri was born in Kesennuma, Japan in 1958, and studied art at Miyagi University of Education. After graduation he worked as Assistant Director of the Symposion Lindabrunn Sculpture Park near Vienna, spending the winters at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Aberdeenshire.  Later, he helped to establish the Glasgow Sculpture Studios as a registered charity.  The environment and culture of Scotland were an important influence on the evolution of his artistic style. Hironori Katagiri and his wife, Scottish sculptor Kate Thomson, work both at their Ukishima Sculpture Studio in Japan, and their second studio in Edinburgh. His works are in public and private collections all over the world. Within the UK his sculpture can be seen in the grounds of Cambridge and Stirling Universities.