SHIO KUSAKA

Early Years

Shio Kusaka was born in Morioka, Japan in 1972. She moved to the United States in the 1990s, studying at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she focused on ceramics. Now based in Los Angeles, where she shares a studio space with her husband, painter Jonas Wood, Kusaka draws deeply from her Japanese heritage while responding to the visual language of modernist and contemporary art.

The discipline of hand-throwing pots and the repetition of ceramic forms remain central to her practice. Her background in both Eastern and Western ceramic traditions, combined with her close proximity to the painting world, has resulted in a uniquely hybrid sensibility that sets her apart from other artists working with clay today.

Artworks

Shio Kusaka’s artworks merge sculptural form with painterly surface, resulting in ceramic vessels that are both intimate and conceptually rigorous.

Vessel Variations

At the heart of Kusaka’s practice is the ceramic vessel—an archetypal form that she revisits obsessively, each time with variation. Her early works appear minimalist in nature, drawing from Japanese pottery traditions that favour restraint and quiet elegance. Yet, within these pared-back forms, Kusaka introduces idiosyncrasies: a tilt in the lip, a slight irregularity in the base, or asymmetrical proportions. These interventions animate the vessels with a subtle energy, making each piece distinct. Kusaka’s repetition of form becomes a meditative exercise, foregrounding rhythm, control, and the imperfect beauty of handmade art.

Form and Surface

Kusaka’s exploration of surface is as considered as her manipulation of form. Her vessels are often adorned with meticulously incised lines, hand-painted grids, or gestural brushwork that evoke traditions from Japanese calligraphy to Abstract Expressionism. She uses a range of glazes and oxides to experiment with colour and texture—sometimes achieving a high gloss, sometimes a matte, almost chalky finish. In some works, she allows the clay body to show through, emphasising the materiality of the object. This interplay between surface and structure reveals Kusaka’s fascination with dualities: order and spontaneity, precision and imperfection, the utilitarian and the sculptural.

Interplay with Painting

A distinctive feature of Kusaka’s artistic world is her ongoing visual dialogue with painter Jonas Wood, her partner and studio-mate. While each artist maintains an independent practice, their works frequently intersect. Kusaka’s vessels often appear as subjects within Wood’s vibrant still-life paintings, while his bold graphic sensibility subtly informs her surface treatments. This mutual influence is not illustrative but conversational—an exchange of visual ideas across mediums. Kusaka’s pots, in turn, echo compositional elements found in Wood’s paintings: repeated motifs, a love of pattern, and playful references to domestic life. Together, they create a shared aesthetic universe rooted in everyday intimacy.

Exhibitions

Shio Kusaka has been the subject of both solo exhibitions and group exhibitions at important institutions and blue-chip galleries. A selection of important exhibitions are provided below.

Solo Exhibitions

• Shio Kusaka, David Zwirner, Paris (2024)
• Shio Kusaka & Jonas Wood, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, The Netherlands two-person exhibition
• Shio Kusaka, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2016)
• Shio Kusaka, The Modern Institute, Glasgow (2016)
• Shio Kusaka, greengrassi, London (2014)
• Shio Kusaka, Anton Kern Gallery, New York (2013)

Group Exhibitions

• New Ground: Jacob Samuel and Contemporary Etching, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2023)
• Vessels, David Zwirner, London (2022)
• Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950-2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2019-2022)
• 2014 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• Displayed, curated by Matthew Higgs, Anton Kern Gallery, New York (2014)

Instagram

Shio Kusaka’s Instagram can be found here.

Critical Reception

Kusaka’s practice has been featured in leading magazines, including ARTnews, Frieze, and Wallpaper*.

Shio Kusaka FAQs

Ocula | 2025