Yutaka Sone

Born in 1965 in Shizuoka, Japan, Yutaka Sone is a contemporary artist working across painting, sculpture, and installation to examine humanity’s tumultuous relationship with natural and urban environments. After studying architecture at the Tokyo University of Arts, Sone spends most of his time in Los Angeles, California and his studios in China, where industrial-grade tools are used for his sculptural work that demands extensive precision. Sone’s work revolves around the tension between real presence and the portrayal of said objects.

One of Sone’s most celebrated series of works are his marble sculptures of cities that render in extensive details the streets, buildings, and coastlines of cities across the world. Inspired by his experience studying civic engineering, those works interrogate the relationship of natural materials and industrial designs, fine art media and quotidian imagery, sculptural presence and manipulated ratio. Testament to the significance of his practice and widespread critical acclaim, he has exhibited with institutions such as Kunsthalle Bern and The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago and has his works housed in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; and Tate, London.