Yoshio Nitta
Image source Yoshio Nitta
Yoshio Nitta was born in Aichi prefecture, Japan, in 1969. He studied a Masters in Sculpture at the Kyoto City University of Art, graduating in 1994. Prior, Nitta studied Japanese painting under his mentor, the Japanese painter Shingo Hoshino.
Nitta usually employs copper for his sculptures, often welding copper plates into a patchwork or into cushions. In spite of the harsh nature of metals, Nitta’s influence gives it a friendly and warm impression.
He has had several solo exhibitions in Japan including Kaede Gallery, Osaka and Art Space Niji, Kyoto. He has exhibited in many group shows in Australia, Denmark, Korea and UAE. Yoshio first exhibited with Sculpture by the Sea in Albany in 1998 as part of the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival. He has exhibited 10 times at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe since the exhibition’s inception in 2005, has participated regularly in Sculpture by the Sea at Bondi since 2004 and exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus in 2009.
The artist completed an Artist Residency in Korea in 2009 and has twice been the recipient of the Distinguished International Artist-in-Residence Invitation at Gomboc Gallery Sculpture Park Annual Sculpture Survey in 2010 and 2012 where he has developed very good professional relationships with many local Perth-based artists including Ron Gomboc. Of the many artists he has become acquainted with and the many friends he has made over the past decade in Perth, where he has travelled most years to exhibit since 2005, he writes: ‘…the many great artists, kind staff and wonderful people .. they are my treasure … I feel very deeply touched’.
He has spoken of the fact that he was losing confidence as an artist prior to 2005, and that it was deeply moving for him to see people in Perth enjoying the sculptures and his work, with the experience helping him regain his confidence as a practicing and exhibiting artist: ‘…it was very moving for me when I saw people enjoying (my) sculptures during the (Cottesloe) exhibition (in 2005). I felt that the mental distance between the audience and sculptures was very small. I felt that the sculptures moved people’s minds as they were intended to, as works of art’ (Yoshio Nitta, 2018) Nitta’s work is held in many private collections in Australia and New Zealand and he is represented in public collections in Australia, Korea, Denmark and Japan, including Town of Cottesloe (2005), City of Melville (2017) and BHP (2007) in Western Australia.
In addition to his own artistic practice, Kyoto-based Nitta is also the Representative Director of ‘symArt’, a Japanese non-profit organisation that facilitates the exhibition of Japanese art overseas. Nitta also lectures for the Art & Design course at Osaka Sangyo University.
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