Hailing from a family long associated with the forests of Kyoto and Nara, Shogo Watari (b. 1987 –) is one of the most captivating young artists in wood to recently emerge from Japan, an island nation whose art and culture is deeply entwined with the natural beauty of wood itself. Virtually 70% of Japan’s terrain continues to be covered in forest, and unlike Western cultures, our religious architecture such as temples and shrines, as well as our traditional statues and paintings, were often made with wood. Timber and the beauty of wood flows through the veins of Watari, and it is within this context that the young artist marks his international debut with Kanata.

Having first receiving his formal training in woodworking at the Shinrin Takumi Juku workshop, perhaps Japan’s leading training center for wood crafts, then working directly under Joseph Walsh’s supervision at the Joseph Walsh Studio in Ireland for 3 years, and then returning to Kyoto to work under the reputable wood studio of traditional“oke”(Japanese buckets) maker Shuji Nakagawa, Watari marked his solo debut as an independent artist in 2021, and has already received a selection at the Nitten Japan Fine Art Exhibition in 2020 as well as receiving a Juror’s Prize at the 3331 Art Fair in Tokyo, Japan in 2021. 

Shogo Watari's curving wood sculptures explore beauty beyond the intersection of the curvy world created by nature and the straight world created by humans. His work elegantly reflects the natural curves formed by bending thin layers of wood; Shogo Watari selects the cedar to be used based on the beauty of the grain and the strength of the material; And by effectively bending the wood to form the famous riveted and natural profile; It opens up a new way of interpreting the beauty of Japanese cedar in the field of sculpture.