YUGEN. Contemporary Japanese Ceramics
January 15 – March 16, 2016
From Thursday 14 January, Officine Saffi welcomes the new year with an exhibition based on a careful study of the contemporary Japanese art scene. YUGEN, Contemporary Japanese Ceramics is an exhibition presenting works by five artists from three different generations: Keiji Ito and Yasuhisa Kohyama, born respectively in 1935 and 1936, Shozo Michikawa and Shingo Takeuchi born in 1953 and 1955, and Kazuhito Nagasawa born in 1968. For all of them, this is their first exhibition in Italy.
Even though of different generations and style, the works reveal the same source of inspiration, which could be considered as the show's principal theme: Yugen.
A profound search for interior and aesthetic balance can be found in the anthropomorphic sculptures with archaic references by Keiji Ito, and in the generous volumes by Kohyama that seem to have been sculpted by the wind; there are the technical experiments by Shozo Michikawa, and the hermetic sculptures by Takeuchi; and finally Nagasawa's mysterious containers for memories. Unique, irregular forms that express a sort of naturalistic spirit in objects created by the hand of man are a distinctive feature of Japanese art. This exhibition gives the general public the chance to see works by some of the most important personalities working on the contemporary Japanese art scene, and to learn more about the philosophy of Japanese culture.
At the inauguration, Alberto Moro, president of tha Cultural Association Japan in Italy, will offer the audience a demonstration of the ancient tea ritual. A ceremony through which the viewer can gain an insight into the philosophy of the Japanese culture, where the art of tea as well as the art of making ceramic lead to that state of unity between body and spirit.
The exhibition is held under the Patronage of the Consulate General of Japan in Milan, the project is included in the calendar of the official celebrations for the 150th Anniversary of relations between Italy and Japan.For the realization of this exhibition we thank the precious collaboration of Yasuhisa Kohyama, Jennifer Lee, Shozo Michikawa, Togakudo gallery in the person of Tomoko Tanioka, Alberto Moro President of the Cultural Association Japan in Italy.
Even though of different generations and style, the works reveal the same source of inspiration, which could be considered as the show's principal theme: Yugen.
In Japanese, Yugen means a mysterious feeling of intangible, inexpressible beauty, something that all the artists seems to have followed in their work, guided by an ancestral conscience whose roots run deep in ancient Japanese tradition.
In that country, ceramics is a primary art, and the quest for balance in shape, materials and colour reaches its highest form of expression.A profound search for interior and aesthetic balance can be found in the anthropomorphic sculptures with archaic references by Keiji Ito, and in the generous volumes by Kohyama that seem to have been sculpted by the wind; there are the technical experiments by Shozo Michikawa, and the hermetic sculptures by Takeuchi; and finally Nagasawa's mysterious containers for memories. Unique, irregular forms that express a sort of naturalistic spirit in objects created by the hand of man are a distinctive feature of Japanese art. This exhibition gives the general public the chance to see works by some of the most important personalities working on the contemporary Japanese art scene, and to learn more about the philosophy of Japanese culture.
At the inauguration, Alberto Moro, president of tha Cultural Association Japan in Italy, will offer the audience a demonstration of the ancient tea ritual. A ceremony through which the viewer can gain an insight into the philosophy of the Japanese culture, where the art of tea as well as the art of making ceramic lead to that state of unity between body and spirit.
The exhibition is held under the Patronage of the Consulate General of Japan in Milan, the project is included in the calendar of the official celebrations for the 150th Anniversary of relations between Italy and Japan.For the realization of this exhibition we thank the precious collaboration of Yasuhisa Kohyama, Jennifer Lee, Shozo Michikawa, Togakudo gallery in the person of Tomoko Tanioka, Alberto Moro President of the Cultural Association Japan in Italy.