Yasutaka Baba 馬場康貴

YASUTAKA BABA ・CERAMIC ・GLASS NIYOKO IKUTA 馬場康貴生田丹代子 About the Artist About the Artist Every so often, an artist emerges who will rejuvenate the traditions of old with a fresh, bold zeitgeist that reflects the times in which we live in, The history of glass art in Japan is a relatively youthful one. Yet this reality is hardly a bane but a blessing, for glass artists are not shackled by the who will push the boundaries of his or her mode of expression in innovative and new ways that help us to both remember, rethink and revisit the constrictions imposed on their creativity by the towering ghosts of tradition. It is within this context that the creativity of Kyoto artist Niyoko Ikuta beauty found within materials and techniques. One such artist is Yasutaka Baba (1991- ) of Hasami, Nagasaki Prefecture. (1953- ) flows freely into her spiralling sheets of glass. Considered to be one of the leading figures in Japanese glass art, Ikuta has enraptured collectors and museums the world over for her dynamic glass objects, executed with emphatic lyricism and spellbinding precision. With the artist’s The eldest son of a family-run pottery in a locale renowned for porcelain production since the 1600’s, Baba’s brave willingness to not simply repeat glass works collected by leading public institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the V&A in London, the Musée de design et Hasami’s past but to move it forward, to attempt a new aesthetic within porcelain that others have yet to tread, has already garnered both respect d'arts appliqués contemporains (MUDAC) in Switzerland, as well as the National Museum of Art in Osaka and the National Museum of Modern and great expectations of what lies ahead. With silhouettes reminiscent of futuristic skyscrapers that buzz with facades of fevered intensity, Baba’s Art in Tokyo, Ikuta’s works continue to inspire a generation of younger artists in the increasingly influential world of glass. vision of light and shadows entwined in harmony shines brightly amongst a new and exciting generation of youthful Yufuku artists eager to carve their place in the international scene. About the Work Ikuta’s works capture “the complexity of light as it reflects, refracts and passes through cut cross sections of sheet glass”. Conveyed and entrapped in her glass sculptures are the artist’s inner sensibilities; with a particular emotion in mind, the artist first draws a basic sketch that best captures her feelings at a certain point in time. After transferring this sketch into a descriptive About the Work blueprint, Ikuta proceeds to materialise the design through cutting thin and separate laminated sheets of plate glass into her desired form with the use of a glass-cutter, each piece meticulously Entitled ‘elemental form’, Baba’s works are devoid of any instance of functionality, and instead, embrace a brave new vision of abstraction that calls to mind the beauty of ancient architecture, cut by hand. Each plate is then attached using clear surgical glue that hardens and disappears under ultraviolet light. The resulting works are graceful manifestations of Ikuta’s inner from the wonders of Mayan and Aztec civilizations and the elegance of Persian and Buddhist reliefs, amalgamated with the minimal silhouettes reminiscent of towers and residential consciousness, and the same can be said for her seminal series featured herein, entitled Ku (Free Essence). complexes of the future. Capturing both light and shadows upon their facades, Baba’s aesthetic is intriguing for both its sculptural beauty coupled with an immaculate sense of detail and craftsmanship, evidenced by the scrupulous intensity of the small building blocks of porcelain that comprise his works. After drawing a blueprint of his intended object, he first cuts out 1953 Born in Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan stencils that help him create the structural foundations for his sculptures. Then, after cutting out thousands of little rectangular porcelain blocks of varying sizes, Baba attaches each piece, Lives and works in Kyoto one by one, upon his damp clay surfaces in a random fashion. After drying, the work is fired in an electric kiln for 1240 degrees Celsius for 15 hours. In pursuit of the elemental essence of porcelain’s natural beauty, Baba’s ‘elemental forms’ are mesmerising odes to the sheer power and imagination of contemporary Japanese ceramics. Selected Awards 1982 Grand Prize, Japan Stained Glass Grand Show, Nomura Hall, Tokyo 1985 First Prize, 1st Japan International Glass Conference, Yamaha Tsumagoi, Gunma 1986 Mayor's Prize, Kyoto Exhibition, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art 2014 Kyoto Art Culture Prize, Kyoto Chuo Shinkin Bank, Kyoto 2017 Kyoto City Cultural Merit Award, Kyoto City 1991 Born in Hasami, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan Selected Exhibitions 2017 Tajimi City Pottery Design and Technical Center 1992 Contemporary Glass Sculpture, New Jersey Center for Arts, USA Glass from Ancient Crafts to Contemporary Art, The Morris Museum, USA Lives and works in Gifu Prefecture, Japan 1993 Heller Gallery, New York, USA 1994 Vänersborg Glass Festival, Vänersborg, Sweden Selected Awards Habitat Galleries, Pontiac, New York, USA 2016 Selected, Triennale of Kogei in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan 1995 Japanese Studio Crafts, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK 2017 Bronze Prize, International Ceramics Festival Mino, Gifu Prefecture, Japan 2003 The Glass Vessel, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, USA 2018 Kumamoto Broadcasting Prize, Arita International Ceramics Competition, Saga Prefecture, Japan 2009 Collect, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK (’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ’15) Voices of Contemporary Glass, The Corning Museum of Glass, New York, USA Selected Exhibitions 2011 Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 2016 The Next Mino Ceramics, Mino Ceramic Art Museum, Gifu Prefecture, Japan (’17) 2012 SOFA Chicago, USA (’13, ’14, ’15) 2017 Group Exhibition, Gallery Suki, Aichi Prefecture, Japan 2013 Gallery Nakamura, Kyoto, Japan Kogei Art Fair Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan 2014 Art Stage Singapore, Singapore (’15, ’16, ’17) TEFAF Maastricht, The Netherlands (’15, ’16, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20) 2018 Group exhibition, Keisho-Ha V: A New Materialism, Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Asia Week New York, USA Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, USA p. 22 Alternate View Art Miami, USA (’15, ’16, ’17, ’18, ’19) TEFAF Maastricht, The Netherlands (’19, ’20) 2015 Takashimaya Department Store Gallery, Kyoto, Japan Group Exhibition, Porcelain Art From Japan, Galerie Marianne Heller, Heidelberg, Germany 2016 Spring Masters New York, USA Art Miami, USA EAF Monaco, Monaco 2019 elemental form – Yasutaka Baba Solo Exhibition, Yufuku Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Art Taipei, Taiwan 2020 Yasutaka Baba Solo Exhibition, Ishoken Gallery, Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, Japan 2017 TEFAF New York Spring, USA p. 18 Alternate View 2018 Seattle Art Fair, USA (’19) Public Collections 2019 Fine Art Asia, Hong Kong Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Germany West Bund Art and Design, Shanghai, China Toshin Mino Ceramic Art Museum, Japan Public Collections The Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA / Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Germany / State Lemberk Chateau Crystalex, Czech Republic / Musée de Design et d'Arts Appliqués Contemporains Lausanne, Switzerland / Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, The Netherlands / Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan / Notojima Glass Museum, Japan / Suntory Museum, Japan / The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan / The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan / Corning Museum of Glass, USA / Victoria and Albert Museum, UK / Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, UK/ Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA / The Ringling Museum of Art, USA Commissions in Architecture Kyoto Brighton Hotel, Japan / Hotel Seashore Mitsumisaki, Japan / OS Building, Japan / Hiroshima Women's College, Japan / Yao City Gymnasium, Japan / The Japanese Embassy, Vietnam / Tokyo Memorial Park, Japan / The Kobe Shimbun, Japan / The Kobe Shimbun Matsukata Hall, Japan / Pfizer Japan Inc. Laboratory, Japan / NTT DATA, Komaba, Japan / Aoyama Park Tower, Japan / Imabari Funeral Hall, Japan / ANA Hotel Okayama, Japan / The Peninsula Tokyo, Japan / Shima Kanko Hotel Bay Suite, Japan.

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