Due at night, photo by Alexander Kravets
Due
MASARU BANDO
Sculptor Masaru Bando has two beautiful sculptures, Memory of Green and Natural, in our open-air art gallery. We are excited to have Due, a beautiful bronze sculpture of a man and woman embracing, join our collection. Due, was created in 1989 and now has a new home in The Rose Garden at Huntington Park, where many couples embark on a lifetime journey together.
This sculpture was dedicated to Carol Capó, in lasting and loving memory of her irrepressible spirit and her many contributions to the community and the Newport News Public Art Foundation.
Audio Tour: Hear more about this piece
Newport News Television Video: Due Unveiling and Honoring Carol Capó
Transcription of Audio Tour:
This sculpture, titled Due, by Japanese sculptor Masaru Bando is the 19th piece of public art installed by the Newport News Public Art Foundation. Due is located in the Rose Garden in historic Huntington Park. This garden bursts into color by early May and remains in bloom until late fall. It is where many couples embark on a lifetime journey together through marriage.
Due is a beautiful 7-foot tall bronze sculpture of a man and a woman embracing. In Bando’s own words:
“Thinking and working with the figure includes the understanding of the internal, spiritual, and physical essence of the human form, as well as the expansion of the form into the surrounding space. That concept is the embodiment of the soul of somebody or some thing. I want the sculpture to touch the viewer through their immediacy and expression. In the same way I want the viewer to enliven the sculpture through touching.”
Due is dedicated to Carol Capó in lasting and loving memory of her irrepressible spirit and her many contributions to the community and to the Newport News Public Art Foundation.
Artist: Masaru Bando
Details: Bronze on granite base, 7′ high.
Installed: June 2016
Site: The Rose Garden at Huntington Park off Warwick Boulevard
About The Artist: MASARU BANDO
Masaru Bando explains, “I am interested in the human condition and its expression. My work begins with the study of life models, from which I make life-size charcoal drawings and abstract and figurative sculptures in clay, plaster, wood and bronze. Thinking and working with the figure includes the understanding of the internal spiritual and physical essence of the human form as well as the expansion of the form into the surrounding space.”
Bando was born in 1952 in Hokkaido, Japan. At the age of 22, after studying sculpture at Tokyo Zoukei University, he went to Italy, as many sculptors do, to study at the Rome Academia Della’Arte. Soon, he was exhibiting in Italy and Paris, and in 1979, he won the International Premio Rome Award.
Beginning in the 1980s, Bando has exhibited extensively and created commissioned works. His sculpture is in the collections of museums, sculpture parks and corporate facilities, primarily in Japan but also in the United States and Korea. He divides his time between Japan and New York City.
Bando’s website: www.masarubando.com
