{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-js","path":"/shigeo-toya-artist-who-looked-to-nature-with-his-wood-sculptures-1947-2026/","result":{"data":{"wordpressPost":{"id":118617,"slug":"shigeo-toya-artist-who-looked-to-nature-with-his-wood-sculptures-1947-2026","title":"Shigeo Toya, artist who looked to nature with his wood sculptures, 1947–2026","excerpt":"In 1988 Toya represented the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale","content":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img src=\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-23-at-08.51.42-1230x806.png\" alt=\"Photo of Shigeo Toya's Wood, 1987, a forest of carved wood totems in a gallery\" class=\"wp-image-118620\" srcset=\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-23-at-08.51.42-1230x806.png 1230w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-23-at-08.51.42-600x393.png 600w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-23-at-08.51.42-300x197.png 300w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-23-at-08.51.42-768x503.png 768w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-23-at-08.51.42.png 1294w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1230px) 100vw, 1230px\" /><figcaption>Shigeo Toya, Wood, 1987, wood, acrylic, 220 x 30 x 30cm. Photo: Hiromu Narita</figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Shigeo Toya, best known for his chainsaw-hewn wood sculptures, has died. The Japanese artist began the <em>Woods</em> series in 1984, carving rough textures and incisions onto tall lumber, presenting several works closely gathered akin to a forest. Similarly, the series <em>Twenty Eight Deaths</em>, which Toya began producing in the 1980s, featured pairs of wooden blocks are stacked back-to-back, with cavities dug in on one side and holes burnt into each block on the other. A follow-up work saw the blocks stacked, each applied with acrylic paint mixed with ash from burned wood shavings.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Attracted to the totemic form and with a subtle monumentality – further works resembled spherical rocks, primeval plants and other organic species – Toya would say he aimed to reconstruct the physicality of sculpture, a materiality he thought dismantled in the currents of post-minimalism and mono-ha. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Born in a small village in northwestern Nagano Prefecture, his parents kept a small farm, He would recall later that while there were 30 households in our village, the settlement has since been deserted. ‘There is nothing there but graves’, he told <em><a href=\"https://sculpturemagazine.art/out-of-the-woods-a-conversation-with-shigeo-toya/\">Sculpture</a></em> magazine in 2021. ‘We built secret forts out of cedar bark in the woods on the mountain slopes, and picked and ate all kinds of berries. We had a great time in the forest during the day, but at night, it was frightening and we were forbidden to enter. It was a mysterious and fantastical realm, completely different from when the sun was out, and I think that implanted a sense of the duality of nature in my mind.’</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1988 Toya represented Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and went on to show at the Asia Pacific Triennial in 1993, and the Gwangju Biennale in 2000. He was the subject of an expansive survey show at the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum and The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, in 2022–23. </p>\n","path":"/shigeo-toya-artist-who-looked-to-nature-with-his-wood-sculptures-1947-2026/","format":"standard","date":"23 April 2026","rawDate":"2026-04-23T13:13:30.000Z","branch":{"name":"artreview.com"},"author":{"name":"ArtReview","path":"/author/artreviewartreview-com/"},"category":{"name":"News","path":"/category/news/"},"featured_media":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-23-at-08.51.42.png","caption":"Shigeo Toya, Wood, 1987, wood, acrylic, 220 x 30 x 30cm. Photo: Hiromu Narita","alt_text":"Photo of Shigeo Toya's Wood, 1987, a forest of carved wood totems in a gallery","media_details":{"width":1294,"height":848,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-23-at-08.51.42-300x197.png","width":300,"height":197},"medium":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-23-at-08.51.42-600x393.png","width":600,"height":393},"large":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-23-at-08.51.42-1230x806.png","width":1230,"height":806},"wordpress_1536x1536":null,"wordpress_2048x2048":null}}},"acf":{"article_artist":null,"article_video":null,"article_audio":null,"article_collaboration":"","article_custom_html_snippet":"","article_featured_title":"","article_featured_description":"","article_highlight":false,"article_custom_link_url":"","hero_image":null,"seo_title":"Shigeo Toya, artist who looked to nature with his wood sculptures, 1947–2026","seo_description":"Shigeo Toya, best known for his chainsaw-hewn wood sculptures, has died","article_related_articles":[{"id":118639,"title":"Thiago de Paula Souza to curate Athens Biennale","path":"/thiago-de-paula-souza-to-curate-athens-biennale/","author":{"name":"ArtReview","path":"/author/artreview/"},"category":{"name":"News","path":"/category/news/"},"featured_media":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/slack-imgs.png","caption":"Thiago de Paula Souza. 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