Tomoaki Suzuki was born in Japan before moving to the UK and attending both Goldsmiths and the City and Guilds Art School, London.
Tomoaki is unique in his use of sculptural portraiture to craft contemporary figures in wood. “I work within this traditional medium attempting to apply it to my own contemporary experience without resorting to past methods or patterns”.
He focuses on the whole body including posture, pose, proportion and clothing which represents the model’s generation and time. He creates intimate wooden figures which activate the space and incite the viewer to think. In 2005 he was commissioned to produce the nativity at Trafalgar Square which will be re-erected annually. This experience broadened his outlook and conceptualisation, taking into account religion and multiculturalism, and was his first large commission in the UK.
He has exhibited in solo shows in New York, London and Cologne and was part of New Contemporaries 2000 which toured to Milton Keynes, Manchester and London. Solo exhibitions include Towner Gallery, Eastbourne in UK in 2010, at Art Institute of Chicago in USA in 2013, and CAPC Bordeaux in France in 2014.