Leo Amino (1911-1989)
Sculpture: ” Ovoid with Embedded Structure and Colour – Cast Resin ”
Size 4.2″ x 2.7″
Signed: Inscribed “LA 67. “………$7,500.00 Canadian
Provenance: The estate of Janak Khendry
Leo Amino (1911–1989) – Ovoid with Embedded Structure and Colour, Cast Resin, 1967
A rare and exceptional work by Leo Amino, this smooth cast-resin ovoid is a masterclass in light, colour, and form. Signed “LA 67.” its translucent surface and embedded structure and colour reveal subtle shifts with every movement, making it an object meant to be held, examined, and experienced. Among Amino’s extensive resin oeuvre, which mostly consists of blocks, reliefs, and embedded forms, this polished ovoid appears to be extremely rare — possibly unique. Its compact size (4.2″ × 2.7″) belies the depth of visual and tactile engagement, bridging mid‑century abstraction with experimental material innovation. A singular opportunity for the discerning collector, this piece combines historical significance, aesthetic refinement, and rarity in one luminous object.
Leo Amino (1911–1989) was a pioneering Japanese-American sculptor best known for his groundbreaking work in cast resin, a medium he explored long before it became common in contemporary sculpture. Born in Taiwan and raised in Tokyo, Amino immigrated to the United States in 1929 and began his artistic career carving wood, eventually studying under Chaim Gross in New York. After World War II, as synthetic materials became more widely available, Amino turned to plastics with remarkable curiosity and technical fearlessness. He became the first artist in the United States to use polyester resin as a primary sculptural medium, attracted to its ability to transmit and transform light. Through the late 1940s and into the following decades, he developed a distinct visual language in which color, form, and texture were embedded within transparent or translucent volumes, producing works that shifted in appearance as the viewer moved. These experiments culminated in his long-running “Refractional” series—highly innovative sculptures that explored perception, light, and the boundaries between the visible and the invisible. Amino’s resin works were not merely formal exercises; they represented a rethinking of what sculpture could be, replacing solidity with luminosity and treating transparency as a dynamic, spatial force. Alongside his studio practice, he taught for many years at Black Mountain College and Cooper Union, influencing generations of artists and helping to legitimize plastics as a serious sculptural material. Today, his cast resin sculptures stand as landmark achievements in postwar American art, bridging craft, experimentation, and a deep philosophical engagement with the nature of seeing.
Copyright of the artist and or the artist estate.