This year, Uchimura is once again coming to Hatchobori with a new body of work. Hooray!
Uchimura works primarily with techniques rooted in Korean and Karatsu ceramic traditions, and each of his works possesses a deep understanding of the particular aesthetic language of those traditions.
This is surely something that comes from exploring each style in depth, studying the classics, and continuing to create through that understanding. But identifying how that beauty works, giving it form with one’s own hands, and then taking it to a level capable of genuinely moving the viewer is no easy feat.
We talk about “the classics” again and again, but works that have survived and continued to be loved through the long, long filter of time must surely contain a particularly concentrated form of beauty. Uchimura’s ceramics remind me of the importance of asking ourselves not simply whether something is beautiful, but why it is beautiful.
And within the pleasure of these established aesthetic traditions, there is also the individuality of the artist.
Uchimura’s own character can be found throughout his work, but what I particularly love is the fullness and richness of his surfaces. (And no, that is not because he works in Fukuoka.)
A glaze may be no thicker than a sheet of paper, yet somehow it possesses an extraordinary sense of depth. The surfaces contain a remarkable range of colors and feel wonderful in the hand.
Wonderful indeed.
The exhibition will feature an outstanding selection of tea wares, flower vessels, sake wares, and tableware. This time, there will also be new works made using kurinuki, a technique in which forms are carved directly from a solid mass of clay.
We very much hope you will come and see the exhibition!
