Susumu Shingu (1937) creates sculptures that move by the power of wind. Although originally trained as a painter, Shingu became interested in sculpture when he saw one of his shaped canvases turning softly in the wind. The work that followed relied on natural forces to make movement and sound, and he began using more sophisticated materials for outdoor works. His work walks the fine line between complementing nature and existing as a natural integration. The pieces, though large, colorful, and usually made of modern materials, adopt nature's rhythms in their movement.
SUSUMU SHINGU
1937 Born in Osaka, Japan.
1960 Graduated from Tokyo University of Arts with a major in oil painting. Awarded scholarship by Italian government to study in Rome.
1960-62 Studied oil painting at Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma.
1966 First showing of three-dimensional sculptures at Galleria Blu, Milan. Returned to Japan.
1967 Solo show, "Wind Structures," Shoho Gallery, Osaka and Hibiya Park, Tokyo. Ube Open-Air Art Museum prize at 2nd Contemporary Japanese Sculpture Show.
1971-72 Visiting Artist, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1979 4th Isoya Yoshida Prize. Prizes from National Museum of Art, Osaka, and Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art at 8th Contemporary Japanese Sculpture Show.
1984 Solo show, "Breathing Sculptures," Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art.
1986 Yokohama Biennale '86 Sculpture Exhibition grand prize and 18th Japan Grand Prix of Art.
1987 Traveling outdoor exhibition, "Windcircus," exhibited in: Bremen, Germany, Barcelona, Spain, Florence, Italy, and Lahti, Finland.
1988 Invited to International Open-Air Sculpture Symposium to create a sculpture at Olympic Park in Seoul, South Korea.
"Windcircus" exhibited in five cities in the United States.
1991 Solo show, "Aria Acqua Luce," Loggia della Mercanzia, Genoa, Italy.
1994 Outdoor spectacle, "Kippis and His Friends," Aono Dam Park, Sanda. 1997 Spectacle show, "Cat's Cradle of the Stars," Saitama Arts Theater. 1998 Created a sculpture for "Issey Miyake Paris Collection 1999 spring-summer."
1999 Exhibited in "Champs de la Sculpture 2000" on Champs Elysées Avenue in Paris.
2000 Traveling outdoor exhibition, "Wind Caravan," in the rice paddies in Sanda, Hyogo, Japan and on an uninhabited Island in Auckland, New Zealand.
2001 "Wind Caravan" in Inari, Finland, Tamdaght, Morocco, Undur Dov, Mongolia and Cumbuco, Ceará, Brazil. Solo show at Maison Hermès
in Tokyo and at Glasgow School of Art in Scotland.
2002 The special prize of the 43rd Mainichi Art Award. The Medal with Purple Ribbon.
2003 The grand prize at the 20th Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Sculpture Show.
2005 Created a sculpture for Jirí Kylián's dance program, "Toss of a Dice," with Nederlands Dans Theater I.
2006 Solo show, "Sculptures du respir," Galerie Jeanne-Bucher, Paris.
2007 The 4th Enku Grand Award.
2009 Solo show, “Planet of Wind and Water,” Galerie Jaeger Bucher, Paris.
2010 The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette.
2011 Open-air exhibit and workshops, “Atelier in the Rice Paddies,” Sanda, Japan. Solo show, “Little Planet,” T’s Gallery and Yamaki Art Gallery, Osaka, Japan. Solo show of original drawings for picture books, Cultural Center of Suita.
2012 The project, “Genki Caravan Yuriage,” in Yuriage, Natori to send encouraging messages to the people in the stricken area in Miyagi Prefecture. Solo show, “Beyond Time,” at Galerie Jaeger Bucher, Paris. Exhibit of floating sculptures in the basin of the Tuileries Garden in Paris as one of the outdoor exhibits of FIAC. Documentary film, Breathing Earth – Susumu Shingu’s Dream, completed and screened in Germany.
2013 Solo show, “Little Cosmos,” Tanimatsuya Toda Gallery and Yamaki Art Gallery, Osaka, Japan.
2014 The Hyogo Prefecture Award for Contribution to the Enhanced Perception of Hyogo. Solo show, “Susumu Shingu – Playing on the Earth,” at Kobe City Koiso Memorial Museum of Art in Kobe. “Susumu Shingu WIND MUSEUM” opened in Arimafuji Park, Sanda, Hyogo.
2015 The open-air performances of “Noh of the Wind” and “Jazz of the Wind” in Susumu Shingu WIND MUSEUM.
2016 The open-air performances of “Strawberry Express” and “Jazz of the Wind Vol. 2.” in Susumu Shingu WIND MUSEUM. Solo show, “Susumu Shingu - Spaceship” at Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum and Yokosuka Museum of Art. The 70th Kobe Shimbun Cultural Award and the Kobe City Cultural Award.
2017 Solo show, “Susumu Shingu - Spaceship” at Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art. The open-air performances of “Noh of the Wind II” and “Jazz of the Wind Vol. 3” in Susumu Shingu WIND MUSEUM.
2018 Solo show, “Cosmos – Susumu Shingu,” Galerie Jeanne Bucher Jaeger, Paris. Solo show, “Susumu Shingu – SPACESHIP,” the National Contemporary Art Museum MUDAM in Luxembourg. The open-air performances of “Jazz of the Wind Vol. 4” and “Concert of the Wind” in Susumu Shingu WIND MUSEUM.
2019 The open-air performance of “Noh of the Wind III” in Susumu Shingu WIND MUSEUM. Solo show, “Susumu Shingu, une utopie d’aujourd’hui” at Château de Chambord, France.
2021 The workshop ‘Genki-nobori’ at the recreation zone of Arimafuji Park. 2022 The open-air performance of “Noh of the Wind IV” in Susumu Shingu
WIND MUSEUM. Solo Show, “Susumu Shingu: Sculpting with Wind”
at Ippodo Gallery in Ginza, Tokyo from October 14th to 23rd, 2022 and Ippodo Gallery - New York from October 20th to December 29th, 2022.
MONOGRAPHS
1973 Shingu
Edward F. Fry and Takahiko Okada
New York: Harry N. Abrams
1983 Dialogue with Nature: Susumu Shingu
Louis J.Bakanowsky
Tokyo: Process Architecture Publishing Co., Ltd.,
1991 Shingu: Rhythm of Nature.
Rudolf Arnheim, Nakahara, Yusuke
Osaka, Japan: Brain Center Inc.,
1997 Shingu: Message from Nature
Renzo Piano, Pierre Restany and Susumu Shingu,
New York: Abbeville Press Publishers,
2005 Shingu
Peter Buchanan, Renzo Piano, Jirí Kylián and Yusuke Nakahara
Paris: Edition Cercle d’Art,
2008 Shingu
Bernard Vasseur
Paris: Edition Cercle d’Art,
BOOKS BY SUSUMU SHINGU
2003 WIND CARAVAN
Susumu Shingu
Brain Center Inc. Osaka, Japan
2013 INSIDE MY THINKING
Susumu Shingu
Brain Center Inc. Osaka, Japan
1975 Strawberries
Susumu Shingu
Bunka Publishing Bureau
1979 Spider
Susumu Shingu
Bunka Publishing Bureau
1991 Whale Shark
Susumu Shingu
Fuso Publishing Inc.
1999 Little Pond
Susumu Shingu
Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers, Inc.
2004 Wind Planet
Susumu Shingu
Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers, Inc.
2006 Les petits oiseaux
Susumu Shingu
Edition Gallimard Jeunesse
2006 L’araignée
Susumu Shingu
Edition Gallimard Jeunesse
2012 Travelling Butterfly
Susumu Shingu
Bunka Publishing Bureau
2012 Le papillon voyageur
Susumu Shingu
Edition Gallimard Jeunesse
2015 Airy Stroll
Susumu Shingu
Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers, Inc.
(
2015 Un petit bois mystérieux
Susumu Shingu
Edition Gallimard Jeunesse
2015 A Little Mysterious Forest
Susumu Shingu
BL Publishing Co., Ltd.
2017 With the Sun
Susumu Shingu
Crayon House Publishing Inc.
2017 Travelling Wind
Susumu Shingu
BL Publishing Co., Ltd.
2018 Avec le soleil
Susumu Shingu
Edition Gallimard Jeunesse
2018 Le voyage du vent
Susumu Shingu
Edition Gallimard Jeunesse
2018 La fraise
Susumu Shingu
Edition Gallimard Jeunesse
2019 Sandalino
Susumu Shingu
Edition Gallimard Jeunesse
2019 Sandalino – Where are you from?
Susumu Shingu
BL Publishing Co., Ltd.
COMMISSIONS AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
1970 Path of the Wind (Senrikita Park, Osaka, Japan)
1975 Message from across the Ocean (JR Kobe Station Plaza, Japan)
1977 Zasso Forest School (Kyotanabe-shi, Kyoto)
1978 Neverending Dialog (Hakone Open-Air Museum, Japan)
1979 Distant Rhythm (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan)
1981 Time Traveler (Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai, Japan)
Astral Portrait (Flower Road, Kobe, Japan)
1985 Sky Image (Cultural Center of Suita, Osaka, Japan)
Gift of the Wind (Porter Square MBTA Station, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)
1988 Rainbow Tree, Time Prism (Fukada Park, Sanda, Hyogo, Japan)
Sky Beat (Yomiuri Television, Osaka, Japan)
Wings' Breath (Olympic Park, Seoul, Korea)
1989 Wind Musical Notes (Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan)
1990 Meadow of Clouds (Sapporo Sculpture Garden, Japan)
1991 Wings of the Waves (Ikuchi Island, Onomichi, Hiroshima, Japan)
White Constellation (Nunobiki Park, Kobe, Japan)
1992 Rowing across the Milky Way (Murasaki River, Kitakyushu, Japan)
Wind Kaleidoscope (Brain Center Inc., Osaka, Japan)
Columbus's Wind (Port of Genoa, Italy)
Water Tree, Astral Statue (Aono Dam Park, Sanda, Hyogo, Japan)
1994 Boundless Sky (Kansai International Airport, Japan)
Memory of the Waves (Tempozan, Osaka, Japan)
1995 Locus of Rain (Lingotto, Turin, Italy)
Dialog with the Sun (Queens Criminal Court, New York)
1997 Poem of the Earth (JR Shinsanda Station Plaza, Hyogo, Japan)
Portrait of the Sun (Nishiumeda Park, Osaka, Japan)
Reflection of Rainbow (Itaú Bank, São Paulo, Brazil)
Ocean of Light (Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan)
1998 Duet of Water (Montecatini Terme, Italy)
Dialogue with Clouds (Centro Commerciale Meridiana, Lecco, Italy)
Astral Traveler (Seiwa Corporation, Osaka, Japan)
1999 Resonance of Life (Hakone Open-Air Museum, Japan)
Luminous Wind (Kobe Design University, Kobe, Japan)
Water Flower (Banca Popolare Italiana, Lodi, Italy)
2000 Memory of Landscape (Nanakita Park, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan)
Wind Travelers (East Port Park, Boston, U.S.A.)
2001 Hommage au Cosmos (Maison Hermès, Ginza, Tokyo)
2003 Silhouette of Time (Tokiwa Park, Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan)
2004 Birth of Rainbow (Nankang Software Park, Taipei, Taiwan)
2005 Symphony of the Sea, Wind Navigator
(Happy Village, Marina di Camerota, Italy)
Greetings of the Sun (Pinnacle Land, Asan, Korea)
Wings of the Earth (Château d’Arsac, Margaux, France)
2006 Tree of the Sun (Château d’Arsac, Margaux, France)
2007 Silent Conversation (National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan)
Water Beat (Banca Popolare di Milano, Legnano, Italy)
2008 Echo of Light (Hekinan City Tatsukichi Fujii Museum, Aichi, Japan)
2011 Forest of Light (The Central Library, Fukuoka University, Japan)
Horizon (Tanimatsuya Toda gallery, Osaka, Japan)
2012 Forest of the Wind (JR Yoshikawa-minami Station Plaza, Saitama, Japan)
Distant Sky (Mercedes House, New York, N.Y.)
2015 Wind Tree (View Point of Udatsuyama Park, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan)
Wind Planet (JUT Headquarter, Taipei, Taiwan)
2016 Water Planet (Mitsukan Museum, Handa, Aichi, Japan)
Cosmos, Epic, Myth
(Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Athens, Greece)
2017 Astral Dialogue ( Sanda City Hall, Sanda, Hyogo, Japan)
2018 Wings of Poetry ( University of Kochi, Kochi, Japan)
2021 Infinite Journey (Foyer, Luxembourg)
2021 Rainbow Leaves (565 Broome SoHo, New York)