Hirosuke Yabe

Hirosuke Yabe Biography

B,1972 Kanagawa, Japan – Lives and works in Chiba, Japan

Born and raised in Kanagawa, Japan, Hirosuke Yabe received his BFA in Sculpture in 2002 and continued as a research student in 2004 at Tokyo Zokei University of Art and Design.

Yabe constantly questions ‘What is it to be human?’ and ‘What is a human being?’. He primarily uses chisels and often natas, the Japanese hatchet, to carve zelkova as well as recycled discarded wood from demolished traditional Japanese, often over 100 years old. It is Yabe’s intention to address the universality of human-nature experiences through the cute expression wooden sculptures, contrary to all aspects of human nature.

The devastating events in the recent years have had a significant impact on Yabe’s practice. Each piece embodies one’s complexity and contradictions, demonstrates the many facets of life that have been captivated and inspired him – the beauty, ugliness and dilemmas of life. An approach akin to a personal watching diary, the work quietly observes and documents everyday life.

His work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including t.gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2016, 2018, 2020), Cindy Rucker Gallery, New York, USA (2018), Richard Heller Gallery, California, USA (2020, 2022) and CONRADS, Düsseldorf, Germany (2019, 2020).