Although the common rock is a rough and cold material which doesn’t stimulate very much people’s imagination, for Japanese artist Hirotoshi Ito they are the perfect canvas.
Ito carves whimsical sculptures into solid stones which he collects from a riverbed in his neighborhood. While he uses the image that the stone is hard, he wants to express the warmth and humor of this raw medium of work.
Influenced by surrealist artists René Magritte and Salvador Dalí, his stone sculptures depict surreal subjects like his open zipper object series that reveal teeth, coffee beans or coins inside.
Hirotoshi manages to inspire life and charm to its humorous creations; they seem soft and malleable and require a second look to realize that they are actually made of heavy stone.
See below a few of his whimsical creations and visit his website for more.
