EXHIBITION
Takuro Kuwata
I’m Home, Tea Bowl
21/Oct/2017 - 2/Dec/2017
Takuro Kuwata has held solo exhibitions in New York, London and Brussels. His work attracts viewers around the world through its overwhelming originality, conveying a sense of pure amazement, fun, and of both the liberation and joy of the act of seeing. His work is known for its vivid and metallic coloring, as well as its unforgettably unique expressions which are nonetheless based on the traditional ceramic techniques of “kairagi” and “ishihaze”. Kuwata’s visual language receives wide acclaim defying categorization, and the scale of his practice has expanded correspondingly. A series of large ceramic sculptures presented at the Sogetsu Kaikan in Tokyo in 2015 was also exhibited at Alison Jacques Gallery in London in 2016, and has recently been shown at Frieze Sculpture 2017 in London. Taking inspiration not only from fine art but also from design, fashion, and dance, Kuwata is also a source of inspiration to creators in various fields. This is possible because while his practice is firmly based upon the ceramic tradition, he places emphasis on dialogues with materials, and questions of what to express in our contemporary age of rapid change, enabling himself to create work that can communicate with the international art world.
This exhibition will feature about 30 new works including both tea bowls and sculptures.
About This Exhibition
Following his recent solo exhibitions “Dear Tea Bowl” (Salon 94, New York, 2015), “From Tea Bowl” (Alison Jacques Gallery, London, 2016), and “Good Morning, Tea Bowl” (Pierre Marie Giraud, Brussels, 2017), the title “I’m Home, Tea Bowl” suggests Kuwata’s dialogues with tea bowls. Kuwata has come to create sculptures in the form of tea bowls as a development in relation to his sculptural work on tea bowls. In this exhibition Kuwata begins to speak, both figuratively and literally, as an artist has returned from abroad, in relation to tea bowls that he has worked on for number of years with a new perspective. Kuwata states: “Who am I, who keeps talking to tea bowls, and where am I going? What am I aiming at and how am I changing? I feel like I’m in the middle of travels, feeling our time.” How his work is received outside Japan, especially the fact that his tea bowls works, to which functionality as craft is attached in Japan, receive recognition simply as “artwork” in the context of the international contemporary art scene, has given Kuwata new perspectives, as well as deepening the core of his practice: to hold a dialogue with the materials and to create work that reflects our time. In Vitamin C: Clay and Ceramic in Contemporary Art Matthew Mclean remarks as follows: Rich in tradition yet utterly unconventional; evoking natural forms whilst being proudly crafted and deliberately shaped, disquietingly violent but arrestingly beautiful, his multiple contradictions seem indeed fitting for a paradoxical era. The pure joy and amazement that the viewer experiences when looking at Kuwata’s work come from the fact that the artist feels the same during his practice. Reflecting our time while being based on tradition, full of a sense of liberation and possibility, Kuwata’s work in the middle of travels is truly contemporary.
General information
Exhibition
Takuro Kuwata "I’m Home, Tea Bowl"
Dates
October 21 - December 2, 2017
Hours
11 am - 6 pm / Tue, Wed, Thu and Saturday
11 am - 8 pm / Friday
Closed on Sun, Mon and National Holidays
Location
KOSAKU KANECHIKA
TERRADA Art Complex 5F
1-33-10 Higashi-Shinagawa
Shinagawa-ku
Tokyo
140-0002
+81(0)3-6712-3346
kosakukanechika.com
Free Admission
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. He 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 has recently been shown in Frieze Sculpture 2017. His work is collected by many institutions including the Rubell Family Collection, the Palm Springs Museum, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Kuwata also presents collaborative works including “Shangri-La Art Car by Takuro Kuwata with BMW i3”, a collaboration with Shangri-La Hotel Tokyo and BMW, in which a “Wrapping Car”, featuring Kuwata’s work is presented. Kuwata’s work is included in Vitamin C: Clay and Ceramic in Contemporary Art, published by Phaidon this autumn.
WORKS
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Tea bowl, 2017
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Untitled, 2016
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017
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Untitled, 2017