Kazuhiro Tsuji is a Tokyo-based Japanese sculptor and make-up artist who creates fantastical sculptures of famous people and characters that draw attention to their level of realism. The busts of Frida Kahlo and Abraham Lincoln, for example, seem alive with the precision applied to every detail.
My aim is to sculpt portraits that go beyond capturing a likeness. I create these heads from the inside out, bringing to life the appearance of inner thought and emotion as I layer the silicone. Empathy serves as a primary guide to my process. I strive for a kind of reticence, an ambiguity that teases your curiosity to keep you guessing at what thoughts lurk behind those eyes. When a neutral expression is adjusted just right, it can trigger an illusion that the face is on the verge of sliding into different moods. It’s a kind of subtlety that serves as a mask hiding a complexity beneath.
Kazuhiro Tsuji