RICHMOND, VA.- The first temporary exhibition in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' new E. Claiborne and Lora Robins Sculpture Garden will feature colossal sculpture by master ceramicist Jun Kaneko (born 1942).

Kaneko is an internationally renowned Japanese-American artist based in Omaha, Neb. He is designing an installation that will include one of his monumental heads - 8.5 feet tall and weighing three tons - reminiscent of figures found on Easter Island, and at least 8 of his dangos, which are slender, 9-foot-tall, totem-like forms.

Kaneko's works have been chosen for the inaugural exhibition in the garden for their sensational physical presence and stunning beauty. They also make fascinating connections to the history of monumental public sculpture, to ancient Shinto concepts, to traditional ceramic techniques, and to industrial manufacturing processes.

Kaneko was born in Nagoya, Japan, and came to the United States in 1963 to study painting at the Chouinard Institute of Art in Los Angeles, where he became interested in sculptural ceramics. Kaneko has taught at some of the nation's leading art schools and his work appears in numerous international solo and group exhibitions annually. Kaneko sculptures are included in more than 70 museum collections, and he has realized more than 30 public art commissions in the United States and Japan.