Yoko Kubrick, California Abstract Sculptor
Yoko Kubrick is a Japanese–Czech American abstract sculptor based in California and working in Pietrasanta, Italy. She makes sculpture in marble and stone, from smaller works to monumental commissions.
Artist Statement
My work is inspired by the raw beauty of nature and by forms that feel feminine, sensual, and alive.
The built world is often defined by straight lines, hard surfaces, and geometric forms. I am interested in bringing something different into those spaces, the softness, movement, and irregularity of the natural world. I work with curves and organic forms, often in stone, creating a contrast between the permanence and weight of the material and the softness of the forms themselves.
There is also a distinctly female perspective in my work. Many of the sculptures draw from mythology and the divine feminine, but I don't intend them as literal representations. I am interested in the female form and feminine energy more instinctively as something powerful, sensual, protective, and connected to nature.
Ultimately, I want the sculptures to bring some of the raw beauty of the natural world back into the places we build.
Biography
Kubrick’s sculptural formation began in California, where she studied stone carving and worked as a sculptor’s assistant. She later developed an independent studio practice at San Francisco’s Hunters Point Shipyard. After completing a year of graduate-level sculpture study at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara, she continued her formation in the professional ateliers of Carrara and Pietrasanta, where she has worked since 2016.
“Kubrick, who works primarily in Tuscany, uses the same milky Italian marbles and handwork techniques as her mostly male predecessors…”
Process and Fabrication
Each sculpture begins through drawing and modeling. Kubrick determines the form, scale, material, and surface, directing its development from the first model through fabrication, engineering, and placement. Monumental works are realized in collaboration with the specialist ateliers, artisans, engineers, and fabricators required by their scale.
Exhibitions, Commissions, and Recognition
In 2019, Kubrick created six works of sculpture for the gardens of Le Petit Trianon at the San Francisco Decorator Showcase, collaborating with Zeterre Landscape Architecture and DZINE. Architectural Digest described her sculptures as a focal point of Zeterre’s classically formed garden.
That same year, Kubrick completed Tides, a monumental Carrara marble sculpture commissioned as a permanent gift to the University of San Francisco. The making of Tides in Pietrasanta was documented in a profile published by T: The New York Times Style Magazine before the sculpture’s permanent installation at the university.
“Yoko Kubrick’s marble works reference familiar tales while subverting the traditions that have defined her discipline.”
In 2020, Kubrick received the Vita Brevis San Francisco Fellowship. The fellowship supported the purchase of marble for a new body of work that became Ovid’s Metamorphosis, her 2023 solo exhibition at Filoli Historic House and Garden. The exhibition included eight sculptures installed throughout the house and gardens.
Kubrick’s work has also been presented at EXPO Chicago and Art Miami with Rosenbaum Contemporary, Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, and the inaugural Silicon Valley Sculpture exhibition.
Her sculpture is held in private collections in California, Hawaii, New York, Europe, and Asia. She is represented by Pamela Walsh Gallery in Palo Alto, Rosenbaum Contemporary in Palm Beach, and Melissa Morgan Fine Art in Palm Desert.
Kubrick works in Carrara and Calacatta marbles, granite, travertine, bronze, and stainless steel.