Centre for Asian Art and Design


Chanting Chisels


Japanese Sculptor Katsumi Mukai: This collaborations was the first art workshop which brought out the artistic spirit of ADM to NTU community. This fast paced 8 days workshop where students took part in the creation of wood sculptures. These are now a part of the ADM landscape.

Katsumi Mukai's art work is an exercise in meditation and takes shape from his daily life. His emotional world is introduced by the presence of the marks left by the chisel and the importance this element assumes in the context of the surface. The play of patterm that the chisel creates on the surface can be seen as a metaphor of life.


His creations are infused with his spirit of adventure and the flow of natural elements that surround his immediate environment. In his work one can detect the artist's conscious attempt to capture the play of shadow and light. Shadows create an extraodinary powerful sense of presence. The shadow gives shape and life to his pieces of light. The chisel weaves his memory of the light falling on the river into a spiritual calm presence.