Kanetaka Ikeda 池田兼隆(ケン・イケダ)
U S citizen
Resident City: Portland, Oregon
About Myself:
I am a sculptor who works mainly in a mix media assemblage process and utilizes wooden branch and cotton fiber as a primary material. I also do wood carvings, ink drawings, acrylic paintings and installation works.
Theme of Work
For the last thirty years or so, my work has been inspired from vivid, memorable dreams that I experienced during the late 80's and early 90's, and from resulting thoughts accumulated through years of pondering over meaning behind these dreams. From this, I have created something of a personal myth in a visual form which I titled, " the Cosmic Tree of Life".
Background
I was born in Japan in a prefecture of Kagoshima at the southern end of Japanese archipelago, but immigrated to Oregon early in my childhood. While being
raised in N.W Portland, as youth, I experienced American life of the 60's and 70's. In college, I briefly studied architecture at Oregon State University and University of Oregon, but found
the subject unsuitable for my inclination. After transferring to Portland State University and taking classes in sculpture, I became fascinated with the subject and decided to make this my
career. As student, I learned primarily from a noted bronze sculptor, James Hansen and carver, Don Wilson. Upon graduation I joined the artist operated gallery, Blackfish gallery in
Portland and started my professional career as an artist. For much of the 80's, I have exhibited and participated in various art related activities in Portland. However, around 1988, I moved to
Sapporo, Japan where I spent time creating and exhibiting artwork while teaching sculpture at Dohto University, a private university there. After twenty years in Japan, I returned to
Oregon, and rejoined Blackfish Gallery soon after. Currently while living in Portland, I found myself enjoying creating artworks and exhibiting them in Northwest art
scene.