The exhibition catalogue features seven carved sculptures and related drawings. Funakoshi’s output includes half-length busts and figures – both male and female – which carry disproportionately sized heads and/or limbs. To great poetic effect, the artist lengthens necks or displaces hands, arms, or ears so that they appear as wings or horns. With their lips closed and their eyes gazing straight ahead, these subtly painted and polished figures are contemplative and contemporary, grounded by history while at the same time forging towards an imaginary future. Funakoshi’s work engages the past, fantasy and reality, and invites a loaded dialogue between East and West. His work expresses a mystery and spirituality rarely seen in contemporary sculpture.
Essay by Phyllis Tuchman
Softcover, 32 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9801259-1-7
$40