Hironori (Hiro) Kiyoshima is a figurative sculptor based in Kumamoto, Japan. He has extensive formal training, including an MFA; and he is an art professor of So-jo University. From this relatively quiet part of the world, from within the nondescript studio building where he works, Hiro creates supremely vivid work. The vitality that radiates from his figures flows from a style that deftly subsumes some of the great masters of both western and Japanese sculpture—easily avoiding the pitfalls of ironic appropriation or homage—while maintaining a perspective that is thoroughly contemporary. It is passion more than anything that animates Hiro’s work. His obvious technical proficiency and ability to intertwine artistic styles from disparate eras and regions captures the eye of the beholder, but it is the work’s passion that captures all the rest. The visceral, lasting impression produced by his art may be its most distinctive feature. Initially, Hiro composes all of his pieces from clay, th