EIKO KISHI “Crack them open, and you will find the same colours within. Exteriors revealing interiors – this is what I wish to express.” “I search for beauty in abstraction using materials and techniques often commonly associated with the utilitarian.” KANJIRO MORIYAMA 岸映子 森山寛二郎 About the Artist About the Work About the Artist About the Work Like jewels embedded in ancient treasures, thousands of pebbled, colourful chamottes dot Kishi’s creations are pain-staking testaments to the observance of the importance of The idyllic kiln site of Koishiwara is a traditional Mingei folk pottery, tucked away from By throwing individually large, cylindrical pots and cutting them while still wet, Moriyama the surfaces of Kyoto artist Eiko Kishi’s (b. 1948 –) towering sculptures in clay. In fact, craftsmanship within the making of great beauty. Her chamottes are pulverized pellets of view in the gentle foothills of Kyushu. Yet from this sleepy locale comes forth the riveting has devised a method of attaching separately thrown forms together to create an intriguing, up to thirteen varying pigments and pastels can be found sprinkled throughout the artist’s coloured clays that are kneaded directly into the Shigaraki base clay before formation; for abstract sculptures of Kanjiro Moriyama (b. 1984 –), an artist who embraces the clay of unique whole. What is important to note, however, is that his silhouettes are impossible to creations. Not affiliated with any particular movement or artistic group, Kishi has long this reason, Kishi’s works can be incised from any angle or dimension to reveal hidden his hometown, yet with a penchant for the avant-garde. There is a purity to his lines and form by hand-building, and his loops, lines and curves can only be realised by the wheel. worked alone, honing her works over the years without dependence on the associations rainbows of colour underneath her surfaces. Using both slab-building and hand-pinching, curves, a visceral elegance that speaks volumes of the nature of the artist himself. Much like After cutting and glazing, the respective pieces are bisque-fired, and then an initial main that commonly dictate artistic circles within Japan. Yet throughout the decades, Kishi has Kishi first shapes a generally abstract silhouette through elongated blocks of clay. Then with his work, the youthful Moriyama is a juxtaposition of many elements; at once starry-eyed firing takes place at a temperature of 1250 degrees Celsius within a gas kiln. It is only at the built a following within not only the ceramic avant-garde of Kyoto but with collectors the use of a ‘kanna’ blade, she striates the surfaces of the damp material, creating linear and innocent, yet possessing an aesthetic wisdom beyond his years; extraordinarily humble, next and final main firing wherein the individual parts are attached with glaze and fired/ and museums throughout the world, as evidenced by acquisitions of her works by over patterns that sharpen and tighten a work’s overall form. Further, Kishi meticulously pokes yet brimming with sculptural confidence. fused together – an intricate, complex and extremely difficult process. Luscious silhouettes 30 public collections, thereby pioneering the equal recognition of female artists within small holes into the coloured grogs that extend upon the entirety of her work, and using a combined with razor edges, drenched in glazes both white, black and metallic glazes, Japanese ceramics. small brush, further applies various coloured slip into each and every hole on the facades of He is many things, and that is why Moriyama has quickly become one of the forerunners of Moriyama’s sculptures present new vistas in ceramic art for the 21st century. her works. Lastly, the artist applies a transparent glaze to her surfaces. After a bisque-firing a new generation of emerging A Lighthouse called Kanata artists who push the boundaries Today, Kishi is widely considered to be one of the most celebrated woman artists of her of 850 degrees Celsius, Kishi fires her works at a temperature of up to 1250 degrees Celsius of their materials and techniques to new heights, this prominence being recognized by generation, and her achievements have helped to trailblaze a path for other woman artists during her main firing within an electric kiln. Having worked with the artist for over 20 acquisitions by 7 public collections while still in his mid-30’s. In particular, Moriyama in a multitude of genres to break free from the conservative constrictions imposed by years, Kanata is proud to reintroduce Kishi’s latest oeuvre to a discerning international is a pioneer in taking the humble potter’s wheel, a tool predominantly used for the mass traditional Japanese society. In this light, one cannot understate Kishi’s extraordinary audience at TEFAF Maastricht. production of vessel forms, and turning it into a viable means for abstraction, essentially contributions within contemporary Japanese art. deconstructing the pots he throws into dynamically oscillating silhouettes. With soaring new works that seemingly defy gravity, Moriyama’s singular aesthetics bring us a step closer to the heavens. 1984 Born in Koishiwara, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan 1948 Born in Nara Prefecture, Japan 2007 Saga University / Lives and works in Koishiwara Lives and works in Kyoto Selected Awards Selected Awards 2007 Grand Prize, Asahi Ceramics Exhibition 1984 Special Prize, Kyoto Arts & Crafts Exhibition 2013 Mayor’s Prize, The 110th Kyushu / Yamaguchi Ceramic Art Exhibition 1985 Grand Prize, Asahi Ceramic Exhibition Encouragement Award, Kobe Biennale Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition Ministry of Culture Prize, Women’s Association of Ceramic Art Selected, 58th Faenza International Ceramic Exhibition, Faenza, Italy 1991 The ayorM Prize, Kyoto City Exhibition at Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (’92) Selected, 5th Kikuchi Biennale Ceramic Exhibition Grand Prize, The 20th Choza Ceramic Art Exhibition 2014 Award of Excellence, Ceramic Art of Today, 3rd Hagi Grand Prize Exhibition 1995 Silver Prize, Yakishime Ceramic Exhibition 14th Kakiemon Memorial Award, The 2nd TOBI Ceramic Art Exhibition Fine Art Prize, The 4th Togei Biennale 2016 Grand Prize, The 4th TOBI Ceramic Art Exhibition 1999 Silver Medal Prize, The 51st International Competition for Contemporary Ceramic Art Minister’s Prize, Arita International Ceramics Competition 2013 The inisterM of Education Prize, The 36th Kyoto Association of Craft Artists Exhibition 2017 Nominated, The 24th Japan Ceramics Exhibition Selected Exhibitions Selected, The 11th Mino International Ceramics Competition 1994 Extreme Osaka Kansai International Airport Commemoration Exhibition Project by Toshiyuki Kita, Milan, Italy Selected, The 7th Kikuchi Ceramics Biennale 2001 Art and Crafts Kyoto Exhibition, Edinburgh, UK 2019 Iwakuni Art Museum Prize, Ceramic Art of Today, 5th Hagi Grand Prize Exhibition Solo Exhibition – Master of Clay Five Artists from Kyoto, Barry Friedman Gallery, New York, USA Award of Excellence, The 8th Kikuchi Ceramics Biennale 2002 The nternationalI Art + Design Fair, New York, USA Selected Exhibitions 2005 Contemporary Clay – Japanese Ceramics for the new century, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA / Japan Society New York, USA (’06) 2002 The 85th agaS Art Exhibition, Saga Prefectural Art Museum, Japan (’03, ’04, ’06) 2006 Tradition and Avant-Garde of Japanese Ceramic Art, Musée National de Céramique, Paris, France 2003 The 33rd Nagasaki Ceramic Art Exhibition, Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, Japan The Ceramic Art of Kishi Eiko, Joan B. Mirviss LTD, New York, USA (’08, ’12, ’19) The 53rd Saga Prefectural Exhibition, Saga Prefectural Art Museum, Japan (’04, ’07) 2007 Kyoyaki Ceramics Exhibition, The 100th Anniversary of Takashimaya Art Gallery in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan 2004 The 20th Contemporary Arts and Crafts Exhibition of Kyushu, The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Japan Soaring Voices – Contemporary Japanese Women Ceramic Artists, The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shiga, Japan / France / USA The 25th Chikugo Art Exhibition, Sathankusu Chikugo, Japan 2008 Generosity in Clay – from the Natalie Fitzgerald Collection, Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture, CA, USA 2005 The 102nd yushuK Yamaguchi Ceramic Art Exhibition, The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Japan (’07, ’12, ’13) Museum of Art & Design Opening Exhibition, New York, USA p.18 p.16 2006 Group Exhibition, The Saga City Cultural Museum, Japan 2009 Paramita Museum Ceramic Art Exhibition, Paramita Museum, Mie, Japan 2007 The 28th Choza rizeP Contemporary Ceramic Art Exhibition, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Japan (’13) Touch Fire – Contemporary Japanese Ceramics by Women Artists, Smith College Museum of Art, MA, USA 45th Commemorative Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition, The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan Through the Seasons: Japanese Art in Nature, The Clark Museum, MA, USA 2008 64th Fukuoka Prefectural Art Exhibition, Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan (’09, ’10, ’11, ’12) 2017 TEFAF Maastricht, The Netherlands (’18, ’19, ’20, ’21) 2010 Solo Exhibition, Eiko Kishi, Clara Scremini Gallery, Paris, France Mashiko Ceramic Art Exhibition, Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Japan TEFAF New York Spring, USA 2011 Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Sculptures by Four Women Artists, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA 2009 Young Artists Group Exhibition, House of Ryoichi Yamaguchi, Japan 2018 Seattle Art Fair, USA 2012 Beauty in All Things: Japanese Art and Design, Museum of Art and Design, New York, USA 2010 KUMAMOTO FINAL Biennale, Contemporary Art Museum