Kent Laforme

Kent Laforme a Japanese Canadian artist known for his contemplative marble sculptures.

“Marble is my chosen medium for exploring the newness of something that has existed in one form or another since the beginning of time. The nature of this material resonates with the void, and offers a glimpse into the creation of something true. The origins of the material are the essence of my work and at the heart of my process. Somewhere, within the limits and possibilities of a stone, dwells a language beyond time and space. This is where I search for the shape of my ideas. “

Laforme studied under renowned Canadian artist John Greer at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and worked as his assistant in Pietrasanta, Italy. His work is influenced by Constantin Brancusi and Isamu Noguchi. Being half-Japanese, Laforme has a natural affinity for Noguchi’s East-West perspectives and how that sensibility manifests in art.
For the past twenty years, Laforme has maintained a studio practice on the edge of the forest near PKOLS on Vancouver Island. It is with gratitude, that he respectfully acknowledges the language of the land and the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples on whose traditional territory my family lives, learns and works and the Songhees, Esquim...

Education, Scholarship and Grants
1998 Hong Kong Arts and Development Council, Artist Exhibition Grant
1993-1996 Studio Leonardi, Pietrasanta, Italy
1993-1994 Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS Off-Campus Independent Study Program in
Pietrasanta, Italy at Studio Leonardi
1993 William Peters Scholarship
1993 Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, William Peters Scholarship, Memorial Fund
1992 Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 1992 Centennial Scholarship, Historic Properties Fund
1992 NSCAD, Centennial Scholarship
1990-1994 Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS BA: Fine Arts, (Degree conferred in 1994)
1987-1990 John Abbott College, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Québec D.E.C: Fine Arts

Solo & Two Person Exhibitions
2014 Temporal Landmarks - Two Person Exhibition, Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC
2009 Altissimo -- Solo Exhibition, Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1999 1999 Frames of Hong Kong -- Two Person Exhibition, Fringe Gallery, Hong Kong
1998 After Truce -- Two Person Exhibition, Fringe Gallery, Hong Kong
1998 One Concept, Two Artists -- Two Person Exhibition, Artist Commune Gallery, Hong Kong
1994 Echoes and Horizons -- Solo Exhibition, Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS
Group Exhibitions
2020 Penticton Public Art Program, Penticton, BC
2020 Castlegar Sculpture Walk, Castlegar, BC
2015 Sculpture Splash, Victoria, BC
2014 Sculpture Splash, Victoria, BC
2010 Objectified, Pelham Art Centre, NYC, NY
2006 Artists of the World Gallery, Calgary, AB
2005 Atlantic Stone Carving Symposium, Cape Breton, NS
1998 Between the Like and Unlike, Artist Commune Gallery, Hong Kong
1997 The Yellow Pages Great Wall, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
1997 The Art of Politics: One Country; Two Systems, Le Mistral Gallery, Hong Kong
1995 Foreign Artists in Italy -- Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, La Badia Monastery, Camaiore, Italy
1994 Mare e Marmo -- Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Forte Dei Marmi, Italy
1994 NSCAD Graduat...