At first glance the respective exhibitions from Ryuichi Kakurezaki and Ryuhei Sako may seem like an unusual presence in the Nihombashi Mitsukoshi arts galleries, but on closer inspection their incisive work actually takes their disparate disciplines right back to their roots, rather than into the unknown. The two artists are united in bringing a raw urgency to their callings, each proof that even long established art forms are capable of profound change, not under the pressure of outside influence, but from within.
Ryuichi Kakurezaki "Vase"
Photo by Tadayuki MINAMOTO
Ryuichi Kakurezaki's journey to ceramics took him from his birth on a tiny island in the Goto group off Nagasaki, to become a graphic designer after a spell at the Osaka University of the Arts. From there he studied under Bizen-ware master and Holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property "Bizen-yaki" Jun Isezaki in Okayama, where reportedly his status as someone not born in the area prohibited him from using the best of the clay reserved for distinguished families of Bizen-ware, and he had to make do with what came to hand. While this may have furnished him with a fresh perspective, his inventive use of material are still nonetheless an existing part of Bizen ceramics, it only took someone to bring it out. In Kakurezaki's considered combinations of clay we find an exploration of the material itself in pottery form, a new frontier waiting to be explored. As you look upon the bold upturned forms and density of patina he summons from the clay, you will be left in no doubt that it is a new era of Bizen-ware we are now living through.
Ryuhei Sako Mokumegane vase
On the other hand, Ryuhei Sako's work reaches back to techniques grounded in the 17th century, but finds modernist reinvigoration in his hand-wrought metalwork. The artist's use of mokumegane is created by painstakingly layering silver, copper and other alloys on the surface of his work before fusing the layers together. The result recalls natural wood, and was originally used only in the realm of swords before being driven almost to the point of extinction in the 19th and early 20th century as the era of the warrior came to the end. Now artists such as Sako are not only bringing it back to its former glory, but finding new forms in the process.
Join us at Nihombashi Mitsukoshi as we celebrate these two artists, each bringing with them some 50 works to discover, each one a new possibility in the making for their craft.
Top and third photo: Ryuichi Kakurezaki Una Mistura
Una Mitura by Ryuichi Kakurezaki
Layered Vessels by Ryuhei Sako
Dates
May 18th - 24th, 2016
Location
Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Building 6F, Arts Salon