The Wheel by Satoru Abe

One of the most esteemed and accomplished artists in Hawai‘i, Satoru Abe made The Wheel, the second in a series of three, after returning home from his second trip to New York City in 1970.

An important piece in HoMA’s collection, The Wheel is representative of Abe’s sculptural style and reflects many of the hallmarks of his production: copper materials, circular shapes, and tree shapes, which often stand in for the human form. Originally a painter, he began making sculptures in 1951 when an interior decorator offered him and fellow artist Bumpei Akaji some spare bronze rods. In their workspace at the Tonaki Service Station, with the available equipment, Abe experimented and taught himself to weld.

Abe’s 1952 trip to Japan brought him closer to his Buddhist and Japanese roots. The circular ring—one of the most ubiquitous forms in the artist’s visual vocabulary—is suggestive of a Buddhist wheel. This basic form, with its central void and continuous circumference, evolved from his understanding of Buddhist tenets, the cycles of birth and rebirth, and the sun and the moon.

According to Abe, “Even though the circle is seen as a perfect form, with the potential for unending motion, it can also be broken or split.” As a champion of younger and upcoming artists in Hawai‘i, his practice and congenial spirit nurtures a continuous, cyclical approach to life as well as to creativity.

— E. Tory Laitila, Curator of Textiles and Historic Arts of Hawai‘i

Satoru Abe (American, born 1926)
The Wheel, 1973
Welded copper and bronze
Gift of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, Keiji Kawakami Art Foundation Fund, 1992 (6900.1)