The following are some excerpts from "Some Comments on My Work" by Hirotake Kurokawa.
Different from wood or stone, the artifical formation of mass is a prerequisite for bronze sculptures. Whereas wood or stone exists as a solid object before we do anything with it, for bronze sculpture we have to start by producing a solid body. This is the reason why my works have to deal with the a priori of the production of mass: the origin of sculpture.
My works are qualitatively different from metal sculpture made of welding of different metals. They also distinguish themselves from regular bronze sculptures which are cast from molds as pre-existing models i.e. the form is established before the bronze is poured into it. It should be emphasized that my sculptures have only molds, but no models at all.
The concept of casting in my work is not dependent upon the separation of shape and material as in other bronze sculptures in which there are molds/models of one material, and the bronze becomes the plastic formation of the shapes of models. In my works, casting is speculative. The production of a solid mass out of hot, melting bronze and the desire to see something never seen before are one and the same prosess.In this sense, I situate my casting process in the realm a priori of the formation of mass.
In my work, the plastic formation of the mold is not for the purpose of modeling. Rather, it is to make the volume an absence of bronze -- a cave yet to be fulfilled. Casting should be understood as a miracle which occurs from the production of an object (positive) out of the formation of a cave (negative). And there is no visibility of figure before the formation of the cave.
Dark parts appear in many sculptures because of the sudden cooling of the hot metal which has been filled up to the upper part of the mold. This part of the sculpture is the only area exposed to the outside when it is formed, and it is originally the outside of itself.
This part is left untouched after the casting because it is the trace of the work's generation ond it records the memory of its birth. This part is a black, rather flat area, but it is not related to any plastic design. It simply forms a horizontal plan against the vertical direction of the force of gravity.
I call this area, The Nude.
The other part of my work (the part which is not The Nude,) is sculpted by a grinder to define the features and characterize the shapes. This part is formed inside the mold and its original surface is ground completely. The grinder is used so that the surface has the impression of a notched,slim object. It is neces-sary to deprive the sculpture of a heavy, massive impressin. I call this part, The Tongue.
The Nude gives my work three dimensionality. The Nude is the trace of the solidfication of metal in an atmosphere that has the force of gravity. The planar configuration of The Nude combined with The Tongue's two dimensional tendency of shape results in the essential three dimensionality of the piece.
Also, The Nude shows the unity of the piece -- that it is formed one and at the same time: it proves that it is not formed by the combination of different materials, rather that the work exists for and by itself with its absolute unity of location.
Spartoi and Golem together form the series called MASSA or Masse.I am obsessed with these German or Latin words that have the vowels A or E at the end (fifth) of the letters. When this fifth letter is pronounced, we hear the very subtle theological nuance that the English word Mass does not have.The last vowel has a certain invocation of power.
For instance, Masse in Aurora by Jacob Boehme implies the spirit from which Adam is made, the object into which the soul is blown, and something which exists at the beginning of "generation". The other example is Massa Confusa (Chaotic spirit) in the Hermetic tradition.
The fifth vowel has the energy of the moment right before something is formed -- life yet to start and the expectation of form. From this, we hear the rhyme of the first letter in the Hebrew allphabet, 
, aleph, which means oneness and unity.
The generation of mass always appears as the tension between two contradictory powers:angularity and roundness. Mass is sculpted from outside to inside by angularity and is fulfilled from inside to outside by roundness. Angularity and roundness show the different vectors of completion. The former characterizes Spartoi and the latter Golem.
On Spartoi
In the mythology of the establishment of Thebes, warriors at arms appear from the ground when Cadmus sows the earth with serpent's teeth. Spartoi means "the sowed;" it has the same root as "sperma" which means seed, sperm. Spartoi implies warriors born out of the serpent's teeth and their descendents, the Thebesians.
The hot, melting, bronze, once sowed in the ground, pushes the soil with its weight and solidifies itself. The ingots formed as such have irregular shapes. The sculpting ot these irregular shapes with the disc-grinder releases the mass out from indefinite form and establishes the autonomy of the substance in its pure bronze volume; it finds warriors with their own faces and characters.
On Golem
What is pursued in this series is the indefinite state of form, suspended before completion. The completion of form is not the objective of the work. Nevertheless, there is a final form in which the process of forming (becoming) is preserved as purely as possible. This is contrary to the Spartoi series, which ends with the necessity of form being achieved.
The following quotation form Psalms 139, 15-16 is the emblem of the series.
Hirotake Kurokawa
- My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you.
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
- Your eyes have seen my actions;
in your book they are all written;
My days were limited before one of them existed.
