ARTIST STATEMENT
Right now I’m interested in making work that explores connections. A sense of self, identities both personal and cultural, drawing upon subject matter that’s historical, natural and cultural.
I grew up in a multicultural family, with a caucasian father and Japanese mother and now I’m acknowledging my Japanese Canadian heritage by creating new work that explores the past to question the present, drawing from family history, merging elements from Japan’s Ukiyo-e and the Floating World, with Picasso’s Blue Period and anime films such as the 1995 Ghost in the Shell.
My paintings are narratives that speak to this duality, drawing from examples of Japanese and Western art that speak to me. The work brings together existing ideas on a shared canvas presenting something that’s old and new at the same time.
As for my sculptures, they are contemplative and evolving as I continue my work in stone, examining the natural and cultural forces that help shape my understanding and approaches to the material.
BIOGRAPHY
Kent Laforme is sansei, a third generation Japanese Canadian. Kent graduated with a DEC in Fine Arts from John Abbott College in Montreal and a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1994. After graduating Kent spent three years working as a marble sculptor at Studio Leonardi in Pietrasanta, Italy.
Laforme's Japanese Canadian heritage is a thematic thread that runs through much of his work. Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi has been a strong influence on Laforme's sculpture and his relationship with natural materials.
Laforme’s body of work includes drawings and painting, but he is best known for his contemplative marble sculptures which have been exhibited in New York, Hong Kong, Italy, and across Canada. His most recent commission, Soul of a Wolf, in honour of stqéyə (Staqeya), was welcomed at Cattle Point in Victoria, BC, in 2023.
Laforme respectfully acknowledges the language of the land, walking with humility on traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.
EDUCATION | GRANTS | SCHOLARHIPS
1998 Hong Kong Arts and Development Council, Artist Exhibition Grant
1993 – 1996 Studio Leonardi, Pietrasanta, Italy
1993 – 1994 Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Independent Off-Campus Study Program, Pietrasanta, Italy
1992 – 1993 Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Centennial Scholarship & William Peters Scholarship
1990 – 1994 Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Halifax, NS
1987 – 1990 John Abbott College, D.E.C Fine Arts, Montreal, QC Ipsum
COMMISSIONED WORK
2020 Soul of a Wolf Stqéyə, Cattle Point, Victoria, BC
2014 Pillar of Ability, BC Centre for Ability, Vancouver, BC
2011 Furito, Colliers International, Victoria, BC
2006 Stone’s Throw, Roads End Contracting, Sydney, BC
2006 Mountains Within Mountains, Oswego Hotel, Victoria, BC
2005 Oran’s Ear, Community Civic Centre, Port Hawkesbury, NS
2004 Canada Rugby Sevens Trophy, Custom House Global ForeignExchange, Victoria, BC
2004 Macron Shell, Cinque Terre, English Bay, Vancouver, BC
2003 Indoor marble sculptures, Interlude Spa, Halifax, NS
1996 Indoor black granite sculpture, Korean Business Air Services (KBAS), Seoul, South Korea
PROFESSIONAL SCULPTURE ASSISTANT
1996 John Greer, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Canada, Pietrasanta, Italy
1995 Cynthia Sah, Museum of Taiwan, Taiwan, Pietrasanta, Italy
1993 Akiko Sato, Museum Bellerive, Switzerland, Zürich, Switzerland
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2020 Penticton Public Sculpture Exhibit, Penticton, BC
2020 Castlegar Sculpture Walk, Castlegar, BC
2015 Sculpture Splash, Victoria, BC
2014 Sculpture Splash, Victoria, BC
2014 Temporal Landmarks, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC
2010 Objectified, Pelham Art Center, NYC, NY
2009 Altissimo, Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2005 Atlantic Stone Sculpture Symposium, Inverness Arts Center, NS
1999 Frames of Hong Kong, Fringe Gallery, Hong Kong
1998 After Truce, Fringe Gallery, Hong Kong
1998 One Concept, Two Artists, Artist Commune Gallery, Hong Kong
1998 Between the Like and Unlike, Artist Commune, Hong Kong
1997 The Yellow Pages Great Wall, Open-Air Sculpture, Hong Kong
1997 The Art of Politics, Le Mistral Gallery, Hong Kong
1995 Foreign Artists in Italy, La Badia Monastery, Camaiore, Italy
1994 Echoes and Horizons, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS
1994 Mare e Marmo, Open-Air Sculpture Exhibition, Forte dei Marmi, Italy
1994 NSCAD Grad Exhibition, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design,Halifax, NS
1994 Mosaic, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS
1992 Peep Show, OO Gallery, Halifax, NS
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