Hideo Furuta was born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1949. He had a broad-ranging education, covering mathematics, physics, art, philosophy and sculpture, and spent time living in Chile and Peru, before winning a sculpture competition and moving to Wales, UK, in 1985. He later settled in Creetown in Scotland, was a recipient of the Henry Moore Fellowship at Northumbria University, was artist-in-residence at Edinburgh University, and became known for public sculptures across the UK.
Artist Hideo Furuta was born in 1949 in Hiroshima, Japan. Furuta and his family were recognised as survivors of the devastating 1945 atomic bomb and received reparation payments, although their home was far enough from the blast to avoid complete collapse. During this period, Hiroshima was under British occupation and undergoing gradual reconstruction, as the bombing and resulting firestorm had destroyed or damaged around 90% of its buildings. Broadly educated, Furuta had wide-ranging interests in science, the arts and philosophy, and particularly in the intersections between these disciplines. From 1969 to 1971, he studied sculpture, art, mathematics and physics at Tokyo Visual Art College in the capital. He later moved to Hijiyama Art College in his hometown to study etching and subsequently graduated from Hiroshima University in 1980 with additional studies in aesthetics and philosophy, while also teaching at an art school. A formative moment in Furuta’s artistic development came during his employment in a quarry on Kurahashi Island, Japan, where he worked for a year from 1982 to 1983. There, he first handled granite, which would become his signature material, and learned traditional Japanese stone-carving techniques. In 1984, Furuta moved to Chile, having previously learned Spanish after a brief stay in Spain, but was soon forced to leave for Peru, after making an offhand critical remark about the then Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet. After a year teaching at Lima College in the capital, Furuta returned to Japan, but found it difficult to reconnect with Japanese society and decided to seek opportunities abroad.
In 1985, he won a sculpture competition organised by the British Council and subsequently moved to Wales with his two-year-old son, of whom he was a single parent. For a time, they lived out of a van, travelling across Wales, while Furuta undertook sculptural commissions, including projects at The Park in Newtown and at Powis Castle. Reflecting on this itinerant lifestyle, Furuta said: ‘At that time I hadn't got a studio, so I made all the sculptures on site […] So me and my son were both living in a transit van,’ (Furuta, quoted in BusinessLive, 2006). He later moved to Scotland, becoming artist-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh in 1989, working from an open-air studio on campus. The following year, he settled in Creetown, Galloway, living near the quarries at Kirkmabreck and Carsluith, from where he sourced granite for his sculptures.
Furuta’s multidisciplinary background informed his work, which was exhibited throughout the UK: his knowledge of mathematics, for example, led him to create pieces with geometric forms in a symmetrical and balanced way, despite being entirely hand-carved. His intuitively crafted and hand-hewn granite spheres became a hallmark of his practice. Although sculpture was Furuta’s primary medium, he also worked as a draughtsman and painter, and produced photography and video art. During his time in Edinburgh, he further developed an interest in contemporary music and explored the relationship between sculpture, science and sound, creating several recordings of his own compositions.
His work overall shows a modernist sensibility rooted in materiality and form, emphasising raw stone and geometric simplicity. He often combines natural, unpolished textures with deliberate, human-made interventions, creating a tension between organic and constructed shapes. The works prioritise mass, weight and spatial presence over intricate detailing, inviting tactile engagement. Their arrangement in open spaces shows dialogue with the environment, integrating sculpture with landscape, rather than presenting it as an isolated and pedestal-bound piece.
In 1992, Furuta was awarded the Henry Moore Fellowship in Sculpture at Northumbria University in Newcastle. He continued to create large-scale public works, including pieces at Gateshead Sculpture Park in Axiom, Freshbrook Village Centre in Swindon, and Adamson Square in his hometown of Creetown. Hideo Furuta died of cancer in Creetown, Scotland, in 2007, at the age of 57. He left a significant legacy, with many of his sculptural works held in public spaces across the UK, including Builth Wells and The Park in Newtown, Powys; the University of Edinburgh; Southend Park in Swansea; St John Street and Adamson Square in Creetown; Worsley Road in Swindon; Bitts Park in Carlisle; and Birches Parade in Holt in Norfolk. In the UK public domain, drawings are held in the public collections of Edinburgh Printmakers and Glynn Vivian Art Gallery.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Hideo Furuta]
Publications related to [Hideo Furuta] in the Ben Uri Library