Kensuke Todo

About the work

KensukeTodo was born and grew up in Kyoto, Japan. He studied a Bachelor of Visual Artin Sculpture at Kyoto Seika University and first travelled to Australia in 1999as an exchange student at Canberra School of Art and Design, Australian national University. He later returned there to study his Masters degree. Todohas lived and worked in Canberra since 2004. He has shown his sculpturesnationally and internationally in numerous group and solo exhibitions. A majorsurvey exhibition of his work was held at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery in 2014.

Oneday, playing with my children in the overgrown front yard of our house, my soncried out, “Dad, I found a big rock!” He was seven years old. A small skinnyboy, holding a big rock in his arm and walking towards me. I quickly retrievedthe rock from him before he dropped it on his foot. The rock was very heavy,much heavier than I expected. Soon I realized how much my son had grown and howstrong he was.

Therock sculptures are kind of self-portrait. While making them, I imagined myselfcurled in the rock that he was carrying.

Photos by David Paterson

About the artist

Kensuke Todo was born and grew up in Kyoto, Japan. He studied a Bachelor of Visual Art in Sculpture at Kyoto SeikaUniversity and first travelled to Australia in 1999 as an exchange student at Canberra School of Art and Design, Australian National University. He later returned there to study his Masters degree. Todo has lived and worked in Canberra since 2004. He has shown his sculptures nationally and internationally in numerous group and solo exhibitions. A major survey exhibition of his workwas held at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery in 2014.