EIJI UEMATSU, TAKURO KUWATA, CHINOKO SAKAMOTO, MASAOMI YASUNAGA

Since the gallery’s inception in 2017, KOSAKU KANECHIKA has featured artwork ranging across a diverse variety of media, not just paintings, and maintained a particular focus on the evocative medium of ceramics. To present the myriad possibilities within the realm of ceramic expression, we have invited Yoshitomo Nara, who himself works with ceramics, to curate this exhibition.

In response to this task, Nara has selected four artists whose works he describes as “breathing life into the very atmosphere surrounding them simply by existing in the space.” This exhibition features approximately thirty works by Eiji Uematsu, Takuro Kuwata, Chinoko Sakamoto, and Masaomi Yasunaga.

Nara has provided the following statement for this exhibition, the first show he has curated at KOSAKU KANECHIKA.

“Strata in Gestation ― Enduring Through Consumption by Fire”

When Kosaku Kanechika, whom I have known since he first stepped foot into the art world, invited me to curate this exhibition, I accepted immediately. However, while ceramics does fall into the category of contemporary art, I am not particularly well versed in kogei crafts, nor am I an expert on the history of ceramics. Nevertheless, I feel that I do understand the appeal and depth of the field of ceramics to the same extent that I do painting or sculpture. So, I decided to select a few people I am familiar with based on my own theoretical perspective on plastic arts.

Because I decided to focus strictly on sculptural structure, I avoided selecting artists who employ a character-like or pop aesthetic, and also steered clear of those defined solely by technical perfection in kogei work. Instead, I sought out artists whose work conveys a geological density, as opposed to surface-level appeal, or those whose compositions deviate subtly from conventional design norms. In other words, I aimed to select artists who capture the “irreversible traces” woven by the interplay of earth, fire, time, and chance through the artists’ physical sensibilities, and manifest these vestiges as an extension of their own bodies and existence.

The aim of their artwork is not to achieve perfection of form or exquisite glazes. Instead, their work possesses a profound intensity, a sheer presence that endures despite embracing the very qualities of “incompleteness,” “uncontrollability,” and “fragility.” Artists such as Eiji Uematsu and Masaomi Yasunaga, whose work may be described as strata that reject the superficial, were the first to come to mind. For Chinoko Sakamoto, I avoided singular, self-contained works reminiscent of well-known pieces like Constantin Brancusi’s “Endless Column” or Karl Blossfeldt’s photography of plants and flowers in favor of her recent pieces defined by their stratigraphic dynamism born from the imperfection of the aggregate. It was also from these musings that I came to the realization that, paradoxically, the strength of Takuro Kuwata’s work lies in the very richness of its exterior.

In this exhibition, I wanted the viewers and myself to share with these artists the moment when the primitive weight of clay, together with the artists’ memories and physicality, breaks through the surface, and finally emerges into view.

This exhibition presents a collection of works created by artists who utilize ceramics as their starting point while drawing upon their own distinctive physical sensibilities and perceptions of time. While embodying the fundamental elements of the medium, these works transcend the established boundaries of both traditional kogei crafts and contemporary art, offering a multilayered viewing experience. The perspective of guest curator Yoshitomo Nara, who refuses to be confined by refined styles or techniques and focuses instead on the uncontrollable nature of serendipity, resonates deeply with the imaginative forms created by the artists participating in this exhibition.

KOSAKU KANECHIKA warmly invites you to this special exhibition guest-curated by Yoshitomo Nara.

Courtesy of Gallery 38 and Nonaka-Hill