Kazuhiro Tsuji – sculpting Jimi Hendrix

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Japanese sculptor Kazuhiro Tsuji is an artist fascinated by faces. A special effects make-up expert, he has spent over 20 years transforming Hollywood actors in films such as Men In Black and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, winning an Oscar in 2018 for his work on Darkest Hour - where his prosthetics turned actor Gary Oldman into former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Kazuhiro’s love of sculpting has become his main creative outlet in recent years and he has used his unique ability for crafting faces to create hyper-realistic head sculptures of the famous figures who inspire him, from Frida Kahlo to Salvador Dali and Abraham Lincoln. These heads are twice life-size and displayed on bespoke pedestals which make them stand over 2 metres tall, in a celebration of the people they represent. Laura Hubber meets Kazuhiro in his Los Angeles studio as he embarks on his latest subject – rock legend Jimi Hendrix. There she follows his creative process through clay sculptures and digital enlargement with 3D printers, to the arduous process of attaching Jimi’s hair, strand by strand, as the exhibition deadline fast approaches. Producer: Karl Bos (Image: Kazuhiro Tsuji with his sculpture of Jimi Hendrix. Photo courtesy of the artist)