Ido Yoshimoto was born and raised in Inverness, CA, where he lives and works as an artist and arborist. He revels in forms and objects from the natural world.
The forest is where Yoshimoto gleans inspiration and sources materials. He salvages wood and bone — materials that have been made unique with time. The story of each raw material is significant to Yoshimoto as he uses the natural phenomena of rot, rust, weathering and growth as starting points for his work.
Yoshimoto spent time in sculptor J.B. Blunk’s workshop as a child and was deeply influenced by Blunk’s use of wood and tools. The way in which Blunk would finish his sculptures with a chainsaw to create a rough and fluid texture has influenced Yoshimoto’s approach to ‘painting’ with indigo dye and slabs of wood. Furthermore, Blunk’s hand-built home, which bridges the realms of conceptualism, craft and installation art, encouraged Yoshimoto to see artistic potential in his surrounding environments.