Paul Myoda (b. 1967, United States) is a Japanese-American sculptor based in Rhode Island. Myoda is inspired by the underlying logic and mathematical principles of the natural world and applies them to his work with new media, technology and industrial materials. The result is compositions of light, motion, and form that find a balance and a beauty between the organic and built. Regularly exhibited both nationally and internationally, his sculptures and installations are known for their elegance and their expression of organic forces through artificial materials and systems.
Myoda holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Yale University. Based in NYC from 1990-2006, Myoda was represented by the Friedrich Petzel Gallery, and was co-founder of Big Room, an art production and design collective in New York City. He was also a contributor to Art in America, Flash Art and Frieze. He is a recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Warhol Foundation and Howard Foundation, among others. In 2001 he participated in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s World Views Program and had a studio on the 91st floor of WTC I. In March of 2002 he co-created the Tribute in Light in memory of the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, which has since become an annual installation.
Over the past decade, Myoda has been developing an extended series of interactive illuminating sculptures that respond to the presence of viewers. Their design is informed by a wide range of forms, such as bioluminescent fauna, crystal morphology and religious nimbuses. An example of hybrid arts practice and cybernetic sculpture, the series bridges the disconnections and eases the anxieties of the post-industrial world through affect, presence and responsive gesture. His works are part of the collections of the Queens Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami and the Library of Congress. He has had solo exhibitions of this series of works at the Dorsch Gallery, Miami, FL; the Project 4 Gallery, Washington DC; the Yellow Peril Gallery, Providence, RI; and the Maine Museum at the University of Maine, in addition to numerous group exhibitions. He is represented by the Yellow Peril Gallery and Piero Atchugarry.
He is an Associate Professor in Brown University's Visual Art Department, where he has been teaching since 2006.