Kelly Akashi

In sculptures and installations that emphasize the reciprocity of touch, Kelly Akashi forges experimental, dynamic objects, recalling states of organic transformation, growth, and decay. The Los Angeles artist initially studied photography, and her interest in the photographic process of transformation through time and space moved her to explore candle making, sculpture, and glassmaking. Akashi’s sculptural universe exists in a perpetual state of metamorphosis, which is illuminated by the self-consuming flames of dripping wax candles and ephemeral light filtering through blown glass objects. Unidentifiable and inexplicably appealing, the deceptively nuanced sculptural bodies call out to be touched and are often held in delicately cast bronze hands.