Artists A - Z

Kunihiko Kato, Sparkasse Fürth, 09.11. – 01.12.2006

Near & Far, Etwas Los, City-Center Fürth, 08.07. – 02.08.2003

Atsuko und Kunihiko Kato, Königstr. 107, Fürth, 30.03. - 30.05.1984

Kunihiko Kato

1945 Born in Komaki, Aichiken, Japan
 

1966-1972 Sculpture studies at the Art Academy in Aichiken, Japan
1972-1976 Teaching at the State University of Mie (Pedagogical Dept. of Sculpture)
1976-1983 Moving to Nuremberg
1977-1983 Sculpture studies at the Academy d. Fine Arts in Nuremberg
 
Since 1983 freelance sculptor in Fürth
2017 Return to Japan
Kunihiko Kato lives and works in Japan.

Prices:
1993 Culture Prize of the city Fürth
1999 Art Prize of the City of Wertingen, NN Award 

Farewell gift from the artists Atsuko and Kunihiko Kato to Stadtmuseum Kitzingen

On Wednesday, 6.9.2017, the Stadtmuseum Kitzingen received a call from the two Franconian-Japanese artists Atsuko and Kunihiko Kato. They announced that they will donate a large collection of sculptures and paintings to the Stadtmuseum Kitzingen, where they exhibited an impressive exhibition as early as 2016.

The couple intends to leave soon their second home, Nuremberg / Fürth - where both artists have lived 41 years - and return to Japan. The donation took place in two transports, on Friday the 8.9.2017 and last on Thursday, 14.9.2017

The compilation consists of 22 Kunihiko Kato sculptures and 23 paintings and graphics by painter and graphic artist Atsuko Kato. The total value of this farewell gift to the Museum Kitzingen is over 170,000 €. This value was calculated based on the catalog prices of artworks created between 1973 and 2014.

Atsuko and Kunihiko Kato are from Japan and have lived in the Middle Franconian Metropolitan Region of Nuremberg-Fürth for 41 years. In the public area of Central and Lower Franconia, the sculptures and sculptures of both are represented in many places. Both artists are cultural award winners of the city of Fürth and artists of the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region 2015.
 

Their exhibitions have taken them all over the world: Japan, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Monaco, Sweden, Finland, USA, Canada, Taiwan, England - and Kitzingen!

How did the artist couple come to Kitzingen?
 

The couple became aware in 2014 that there was a Japangarten in Kitzingen, which had been established in 2011 in honor of the internationally renowned Würzburg Japanese researcher Philipp Franz von Siebold by the Stadtmuseum Kitzingen. There is also a very special plant: the ginkgo tree! This tree has been particularly appealing to the artist Atsuko Kato since 1986. The ginkgo is for them a symbol of the power of nature, life and death, war and peace, it is also their symbol of international understanding. The ginkgo became for her a diverse source and the long-standing theme of her art. Atsuko Kato is therefore not only engaged in painting, graphics and photography with ginkgo trees, but also ensures the spread of this symbol of life through ginkgo tree plantings and Ginkgo installations throughout Europe.

The artist Atsuko Kato prefers two opposing techniques in her work; on the one hand the oil painting and on the other hand the lithography using Solnhofen limestone slabs. Since 1986 Atsuko Kato has been dealing with the topic "GINKGO" as an art motif.
 

The artist Kunihiko Kato created especially sculptures, which he gave the simple title "living beings".

He prefers to work with the natural material stone or wood. The shapes of his creatures are always organic, resembling hostage animals, unicellular organisms or leaf formations. His teachers were Prof. Yamato at the Art Academy in Aichi and Professor Uhlig at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. His preferred material is natural stone and natural wood. His main theme is living beings.
In addition to his exhibitions in Japan, Germany, France, Austria, Spain, Jugoslavia, Hungary, Poland, Canada, Scotland, USA, Finland, Sweden, Kunihiko Kato also participated in international sculpture symposia: the 1993 Wood Sculpture Symposium in Nagyatad, Hungary, 1997 in Ansbach, 1998 and 2010 in Markneukirchen, Saxony and 2013 at the HOLZART in Kronach.

He was involved in stone sculpture symposia in 2008 in Bad Kissingen, 2012 in Grimming (Austria), and in 2013 in the Brandnertal in Austria. His works in public space can not all be enumerated in this context, only so much, including a sculptural path in Fürth, numerous living fountain and monuments.