Tea Bowl, 2018

Hong Kong 2019
Tea Bowl

Taka Ishii Gallery

Sculpture
Porcelain, glaze, platinum, palladium
18.3 x 18.2 x 14.9 （厘米）
7.2 x 7.2 x 5.9 （吋）
Takuro Kuwata Takuro Kuwata was born in 1981 in Hiroshima. He graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, Ceramic Arts, at Kyoto Saga University of Arts in 2001, and started studying under ceramic artist Susumu Zaima in 2002. He graduated from Tajimi City Pottery Design and Technical Center in 2007, and currently lives and works in Toki City, Gifu, Japan. Kuwata continues to present work like nothing that has ever been seen before, expanding the category of what constitutes ceramic art. Yet his work also has a deep respect for and earnest pursuit of the notion of ceramics, especially traditional chawan tea bowls. Though his tea bowls may look completely untraditional in style, Kuwata’s work in fact revolves around the traditions, as he exaggerates the centuries-old Japanese ceramic techniques such as kairagi (imperfections in the glaze caused by shrinking and cracking, translates literally to “like the skin of a plum tree”), and ishihaze (stones exploded after being mixed in clay and fired). “I am often told my works look unusual or unlike a work of pottery, however this is not my intention - rather, I try to obediently follow ceramic culture and the production processes, but with my personal sense” Kuwata explains. His work always possesses a sense of freshness, as it results from his own amazement at the series of changes occurring during the production process. The artist commented, “Ceramics can’t be created as I planned first and that is the interesting part. Glazes will crack and stones will be broken unexpectedly, and there is a way to see that unexpected happenstance as an accent of the work.” The balance between being controlled by techniques and the unexpected forces of nature gives the work a special aura. Kuwata has held exhibitions in New York, Brussels, and London. His major group exhibitions include “Art Crafting towards the Future” (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 2012), “Japanese Kōgei | Future Forward” (The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, 2015), and “Takashi Murakami’s Superflat Consideration on Contemporary Ceramics” (Towada Art Center, Aomori, 2017). His work is acquired by institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Rubell Family Collection, the Palm Springs Museum, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art.