Kan Yasuda
BIO
Kan Yasuda was born in 1945 in the city of Bibai, on Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island.
He received a master’s degree in sculpture from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1969, and in 1970 received a fellowship from the Italian Government to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. He moved to Italy and established a studio in Pietrasanta, a town that since the 15th century has been known for its marble quarries, and once supplied marble to Michelangelo.
In 1992, Yasuda partnered with Bibai on a project to promote arts and culture and revitalize the city. That partnership became the Bibai Art Plaza, a 17-acre sculpture park of woods and lawns, surrounded by mountains and a river. Forty of Yasuda’s sculptures are exhibited in the park.
Yasuda’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout Italy and Japan. It has also been installed in museums and public spaces around the world, including
the Champs-Elysées in Paris, France; the Garachico in Tenerife, Spain; at Aurora Place in Sydney, Australia; and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Bretton, the United Kingdom.
ART
The egg-shaped form at the top of the door resembles a seed that has just split open or a mouth that opens to the sky, like a baby’s first cry. Artist Kan Yasuda has left the answer deliberately ambiguous, leading us to think about time and space, life and death, the past and the present. When we pass through the door what is the place we are returning to?
ABOUT THE ARTIST
ABOUT THE SCULPTURE

Door of Return, 2001
Bronze
197″ x 120″ x 39″
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Scarecrow, 2006 Tom Claassen
Untitled (Two Rabbits), 2004 Jonathan Clarke
Lifestyle, 2006 Niki de Saint Phalle
Adam & Eve, 1985-1989 Jim Dine
Big White Gloves, Big Four Wheels, 2008 Mark di Suvero
Aesop’s Fables, 1990 Jean-Michel Folon
Voyage, 1999 Laura Ford
Bird, 2007 Keith Haring
Untitled (Ringed Figure), 1987 Käi
Love Vs. Money, 2017 Fernand Léger
Femmes Au Perroquet, 1952 Aristide Maillol
La Riviere, 1938 – 1943 Ju Ming
Tai Chi Singlewhip, 1998 Igor Mitoraj
Eros Bendato, 1999 Julian Opie
Kiera & Julian Walking, 2002
Bruce & Sara Walking, 2007 Tom Otterness
Kindly Geppetto, 2001 Mimmo Paladino
Zenit, 1999 Martin Puryear
Untitled (Bench), 2008 George Rickey
Four Rectangles Oblique, 1979 Tony Smith
Night, 1962 Bernar Venet
2 Arcs X 4, 230.5 Degree, Arc X 5, 1999-2000 Erwin Wurm
Big Suit, 2010 Kan Yasuda
Door of Return, 2001 Jack Youngerman
Samarkand, 1981