After majoring in sculpture at Aichi University of the Arts, in the 1970s Toya Shigeo (b. 1947) threw himself fully into a career as a sculptor. Amid the then-dominant art world fashion for criticizing and deconstructing the genre of sculpture, Toya was dedicated to exploring the origins of sculpture, and sculptural expression from around the world and every era, persistently interrogating the very nature of his chosen art form. Starting with his first solo exhibition POMPEII..79 (1974), making observations on human behavior, memories, and gaze he began to present works both conceptual and constructive in nature. From the mid-1980s he embarked upon the highly-acclaimed Woods series of lumber pieces with chainsaw-carved surfaces. After taking part in the Venice Biennale in 1988 he continued to present work around the world, earning a reputation as one of modern Japan’s leading sculptors. A prolific practitioner of sculpture for 50 years now, since the 1990s he has been working on the From ‘Borders’ and Minimalbaroque series, since the 2000s on the Cave series, and more recently, the Body of the Gaze series. His words, meanwhile, spun in parallel with his art-making, capture the conflicts between self and others, internal and external, Japan and the West, and demonstrate to us his earnest and consistent interrogation of these as issues close to his heart. In addition to illustrations of Toya's major works, this book contains a substantial collection of essays by various writers. -- Exhibitions: