Takashi Tanimoto

Takashi Tanimoto is the third generation of a pottery family with a three-generation history in Iga. His grandfather, Kosei Tanimoto, is known for his efforts to revive Iga tea ceramics, which had been in decline after the Second World War. Drawing on a wide range of artistic forms, including painting and sculpture, he made the renewal of classical forms a guiding principle of his work. This approach was passed down to Takashi through his father, Kei Tanimoto.After turning from oil painting to ceramics, Kosei studied under Sakuzo Hineno and Shinobu Komori, pioneers who helped shape the fields of ceramic design and kiln research. Before studying under Hineno, Kei learned copperplate engraving at Atelier 17, the Paris studio founded by William Hayter. Takashi, too, trained under Tadashi Mori, who had studied with Hineno, before going on to study in Italy.Takashi’s forms are consistently fresh, occupying a space between pottery and sculpture. In pottery, a reproduction generally evokes its original model. Yet even when working with classical forms such as the dōjime flower vase and the Ido Chawan, Takashi’s work conveys an immediate and visceral presence before it recalls the image of its classical prototype.Ceramics are not simply something given, but a medium of expression consciously chosen and reinterpreted by the artist. This is manifested as a defining characteristic of Takashi’s work.