It wasn’t hard to miss Jun Kaneko as he walked in the rotating doors at the Sheldon Museum of Art on Tuesday night. His white hair, which still has streaks of youthful black in it, hung down past his shoulders. His out-there hair balanced out his short stature and contrasted against his black monotone outfit.
Kaneko is internationally known for his ceramic sculptures, specifically “dangos,” which is Japanese for dumplings. They are large egg-shaped sculptures that can weigh up to 5,000 pounds.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” said Kaneko about creating his first dango sculpture.
His other artistic productions include painting, drawing, print making and costume design. Recently, his explorations have included bronze and glass work.
He didn’t say much as people mingled around him at the Sheldon event in his honor.
Some describe him to be a reclusive person, but he had a lot to say about his artwork during the slideshow presentation in the Ethel S. Abbott Auditorium.
There was no trouble filling the seats of the auditorium. Some audience members were students, promised extra credit if they attended, and others were die-hard fans.
Gail Folda, a freelance photographer from Lincoln couldn’t hold in her excitement.
“I think he’s a tremendous talent. I saw his show three times in one week, and I got goosebumps every time,” she said.
She said she was first introduced to Kaneko’s work at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha.
Jorge Veneciano, director of the museum, gave a brief opening and then introduced Kaneko, who he described as a “prolific and relentless artist.”
Kaneko spoke for nearly two hours about his various works of art that have been displayed all over the world, including in New York and in his native Japan.
Kaneko was born in Nagoya in 1942 and moved to California in 1963.
“I didn’t speak any English, I just wanted to get out of Japan,” he said.
He said in Japan, space to work was limited and that space is just as important as the ideas for his art.
Now, Kaneko runs his own studio in downtown Omaha, which was established in 1990.
He said the main reason he stays in Omaha is because of his wife, Ree Kaneko.
Although Kaneko is recognized for his ceramics, he came to the United States as a painter and said he never thought about doing ceramics.
“I didn’t know anything about sculptures,” he said. “The idea or the concept.”
His ceramic works started in 1964.
“I was trying to force myself to understand three-dimensional ideas,” Kaneko said.
But his original love for painting can’t escape him.
“I always have a need to paint on it,” he said.
The height of some of the sculptures reach up to 12 feet. Kaneko explained why he likes to create these in such a large scale — his initial inspiration came from a church ceiling.
He said the way it made a person look up was amazing.
“The scale of things is an interesting concept,” he said. “You never look up when you’re sad.”
Kaneko’s exhibition at the Sheldon is called “Play’s the Thing” and will be displayed until Oct. 11.
michelle rieger@dailynebraskan.com
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