Hirotoshi Ito Turns Stone Into Sculptures That Rock.

While running the family masonry business which crafts tombstones, memorials and religious statuary, Hirotoshi Ito has been creating and exhibiting his own stone art in Japan and abroad in hopes to promote the value of stones as an art medium. For his personal works, he use various kinds of stones ranging from granite and marble to ones he found at the Azusa riverbank near his home.




In some instances he carves marble with a deft hand, turning into fabric and garments. In other projects, he has 'opened' simple rocks turning them into precious containers. He enjoys mixing the stone with different materials such as zippers, dentures, and coins as you will see in the following images of his work.


above: Hirotoshi Ito's Laughing Stones are some of his most recent work

His ability to turn stone into the appearance of malleable substances such as food is both beautiful and compelling:





Adept at sculpting marble, he has given the following pieces the flowing appearance of garments, linen and paper:







Stone garments:






With the addition of zippers, Hirotoshi has turned rock into anything but a solid substance. Providing an opening, the rocks are 'unzipped' to hold coffee beans, marbles, coins, shells and more.












His most recent work are his "Laughing Stones":



You can purchase some of his zippered rocks at the online independent artists' store Iichi
Hirotoshi Ito website

Marble Sculptures To Blow Your Mind By Fabio Viale.

above: Fabio Viale exhibit photos courtesy of lifthin

Like many a famous Italian sculptor before him, Fabio Viale works in marble. Chipping away, polishing, bringing life to a block of rock. Unlike many a famous Italian sculptor, Fabio's marble pieces look like styrofoam, rubber tires (tyres), paper airplanes, popcorn and even a modernized David, tatts and all.

The impressive trompe l'oeil effects he gets from marble will blow your mind.

While other sites like jailbreak collective and Today and Tomorrow have done a nice job sharing a few of his pieces - particularly his styrofoam-like Mona Lisa, skull and the making of video and literal launch of his all marble canoe/ boat, I'd like to share some of his other work that I find fascinating as well.

Black sculpted marble that looks like tire tread and tires (tyres):





White sculpted marble that looks like popcorn:


White sculpted marble that looks like paper:







Giant white marble balloon:




Classic Greek and Italian marble sculpture with added tattoos.
Kouros with tatts:

Pieces from Michaelangelo's David, with tatts:




And, of course his carved marble pieces, in the likeness of the Mona Lisa and a skull, that emulate styrofoam:




Images courtesy of the artist and Gagliardi Art System and flickr