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Artwork Description

Kosuke Kato is one of the leaders of an up-and-coming generation of metal artists in Japan who, while embracing the storied traditions of metal within Japanese history, strive for vistas never before seen in their respective materials. From samurai swords to armour, from tea ceremony ware to ceremonial vessels, metal has long been engrained in the Japanese consciousness as only second to ceramics, yet the material of Damascus has no true roots in this island nation’s history. Yet Kato wields the metal that is Damascus steel with a minimal elegance, transforming the austere and medieval material into a compelling medium for abstraction within contemporary art. In Kato’s metal facades are the seven seas of serenity, an eternal loop that plays on and on, his silhouettes accentuating the raw beauty of Damascus in all its true glory. Kato’s creative process within Damascus is a highly intricate process akin to the forging of Katana samurai swords. First taking 7 different sheets of iron ore and nickel, the artist piles them together and heats the materials into a single unit at a temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius. Once this temperature is reached, the process of hammering the metal, folding, then cutting the metal in two continues repeatedly, while throwing sand in to create and solidify a base billet. After compressing the billet, a pattern is embedded within the metal, and then polished out to achieve a metallic sheen. An acidic liquid is then applied to the surface, and the multi-layered Damascus motifs begin to rise from within the metal and appear on Kato’s facades. Lastly, the treated metal is hammer-raised into Kato’s distinctively serene and minimal silhouettes.