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Toshio Sasaki
Japanese, 1946-2007
Toshio Sasaki, 60, a Sculptor of Major Projects in New York, Dies
By Dennis Hevesi
March 31, 2007
Toshio Sasaki, a Japanese sculptor known for works in public spaces, particularly “The First Symphony of the Sea,” a 322-foot-long wall relief at the New York Aquarium at Coney Island, died on March 10 near his home in Nagakute in the Aichi Prefecture of Japan. He was 60 and also had a home in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The cause was stomach cancer, his wife, Miyo, said.
Mr. Sasaki, whose work has been described as more surrealist than abstract, was one of eight finalists in the design competition for the World Trade Center memorial.
He completed the well-known wall on the Coney Island boardwalk in 1993. Constructed from four tons of concrete, the wall evokes the living creatures inside the building with embedded multihued mosaic fish heads and terrazzo starfish.
In 2003, Mr. Sasaki’s ground zero submission, “Inversion of Light,” included a representation of the north tower’s footprint with light shining from below and a reflecting pool above a circle of light as a representation of the south tower’s footprint. Other elements included water trickling over a glass wall etched with victims’ names and a column honoring unidentified remains, with a blue laser aimed at the sky, between the tower sites.
Born in Kyoto on Nov. 24, 1946, Mr. Sasaki was a son of Tetsuji and Tsune Mori Sasaki. His father was a carpenter who specialized in the intricate interiors of Buddhist temples.
Besides his wife, Mr. Sasaki is survived by three brothers, Yasuo, Shigehiko and Morio, all of Osaka.
Mr. Sasaki graduated from the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Art and Music in 1972. Two years later, he and his wife came to the United States. Mr. Sasaki had won a scholarship to study at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. His works have been exhibited in Washington, in Philadelphia, at the South Beach Psychiatric Center on Staten Island and in Central Park.
He recently completed a 40-by-30-foot facade for a new public library in Long Island City, Queens. The facade, with geometric shapes on cast-stone panels, is inscribed with quotations about art, literature and science. Days before he died, his wife said yesterday, Mr. Sasaki bought a plane ticket to New York to take a final look at the mural.
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