《Where the night starts 》 Iron, h2450 × w2400 × d1000mm

Born in Tochigi Prefecture in 1984, Inaba is an internationally acclaimed sculptor who completed his doctoral studies at Bunsei University of Arts in 2011. Inaba has been creating sculptures that depict a story through the viewer’s imagination by actively creating blank or marginal spaces in the sculpture. These blank spaces are the margins where the viewer’s imagination can engage and draw a story, giving autonomy and life to the sculptures and the animals Inaba creates.
Inaba’s sculptures have been described as three-dimensional paintings because of the dynamic speed and curves of his lines, expressed as brushstrokes floating in the air using iron wire, showcasing his exceptional drawing ability. The motif of “stars” is used as an image that connects viewers to their own religious views, perspectives on life and death, cosmic science, and memories of stories. The “rectangle” is associated with the artist’s own image of society, order, and other large entities.


He has received many awards, including the 2006 Montreal International Arts Festival’s Quebec Prize for the Promotion of Japanese Culture and the 2011 Franck Muller Genius of Creation Award, and his participation in the 2014 Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Italy has brought him even more international attention. His works have been exhibited and installed in the United States, Poland, South Korea, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, etc.


I would like my creations to be sculptures which engage with the viewers imagination. I believe art has a role of bringing viewers a fruitful time, allowing them to fantasize about something the eyes cannot see. Sculptural expression is the act of articulating thoughts and feelings through the form and existence of an object. However, I fuse formless “blanks” into my work to arouse the viewer’s imagination. “Blanks” make room for stories to develop. By merging sculptural form with the viewer’s imagination, sculptural expression reaches new heights, no longer bound by physical limitations. In sharing memories that the structural forms evoke with other viewers, we can recognize and cherish the richness in diverse ways of thinking. In a time when diversity and tolerance are being challenged, I pray with my work for continued tolerant and abundant days where mutual understanding through art prevails. - Tomohiro Inaba -


Public collection
2011 [ A Story Visible to you ] / Nommanji Kindergarten, Tochigi, Japan
2015 [ Living ] / Kaso Art Village Project, Tochigi, Japan
2016 [ The Stars Jorney ] / Double Cove, Hong Kong
2019 [ A PLACE FOR STARS ] / Lodz, Poland
2021 [ Memory of the Stars ] & [ Promise of the Stars #5 ] / JA Lake View Hotel, Dubai