Yoshin Ogata was born in 1948 in Miyakonojō. In 1971 he enrolled in the Brera Academy in Milan and later on continued his studies in Florence, Rome and Carrara, where he graduated in 1973 and where he also gained practical experience by working in one of the laboratories for sculpture (marble). His first individual exhibition was held at the Palazzo Strozzi in the exhibition space for foreign artists. Afterwards, he received many invitations to international art fairs and group exhibitions in Italy and elsewhere in Europe. Ogata was also invited to numerous international sculpture symposia in Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Hungary and Japan. He lives and works in Ortonova near Carrara.
The mighty sculpture by Yoshin Ogata, a Japanese man living in Italy, undoubtedly attracts attention. The author belongs to the generation of contemporary Japanese artists that seized the opportunity to pursue professional education and subsequent training in different Italian art academies. His mentor at the Brera Academy in Milan was the renowned “marblist” Pietro Cascella. The sculpture in Portorož, i.e. the longitudinal totem, is also a testament to Ogata’s technical prowess through which we can feel his utmost respect, one could almost say veneration, for stone material. Even though his works are abstract, we can see that the form is derived from a narrative. This is also evident from the titles of his work that draw inspiration from oriental philosophy, such as Water Imprint. This sculpture also has a befitting title, as the artist created it to bring attention to the ever more powerful and ineffaceable influence or imprint that irresponsible human behaviour has on nature. Water, as the indispensable source of life, is symbolically represented by the perfect form of a drop. This almost invisible naturalistic detail is squeezed between two stone blocks and carries an important symbolic message.