Tomio Koyama Gallery Tennozu is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Suna Fujita.
(*All sales for this exhibition will be conducted through a lottery. Please refer to the end of this page for more information.)
Suna Fujita is a unit consisting of Shohei Fujita and Chisato Yamano, who collaborate to produce ceramic objects.
Taking advantage of the three-dimensional nature of pottery, Suna Fujita have created a free, gentle, and playful body of work that transcends the boundaries between two- and three-dimensional forms of expression, where people, nature, and animals seem to enjoy living together in harmony. Their worldview has found favor with a wide audience both in Japan and abroad, and in recent years, their collaboration with the luxury brand Loewe created a sensation, and in June 2024, Kyuryudo published a long-awaited collection of their works, Suna Fujita: Visual Encyclopedia.
Fujita and Yamano live and work in the natural surroundings of Kyoto, consulting with each other on what to make and how to paint their works while dividing the labor involved in the various creative processes between them. Fujita shapes the ceramic vessels on a potter’s wheel, while both artists paint them with cute and detailed pictures of memorable scenes from their everyday leisure activities. Another distinctive characteristic of Suna Fujita’s work is the amusing three-dimensional shapes on the lids and other surfaces of these ceramics, all of which are made by Yamano, from the molding stage.
The common thread that runs through their work is a warm and keen sense of humor, an affection for nature, animals, and everyday life, and a richness of imagination inspired by their observations.
Fujita describes Suna Fujita’s work in the following way.
“We are determined to portray only a “peaceful” world. Since Suna Fujita ceramics are for everyday use, we hope to create pieces that stage a serene moment. At least when drinking tea from a cup, one can immerse oneself in the peaceful utopia depicted on the cups where no one is hurt, which is impossible in reality. What we want is to create tools that can create such moments of peace and tranquility.”
（Suna Fujita: Visual Encyclopedia, Kyuryudo, 2024)
Adults and children alike enjoy skiing and sledding on snow-covered mountains, or gazing out at the ocean from a submarine in the shape of an Atlantic football-fish, while primitive people frolic as they ride on mammoths and coelacanths.
The unique originality of Suna Fujita’s works, with their nostalgia for children’s vacations and the joy of going about one’s everyday life, something that resonates with audiences from the primitive age to the present day alike, can be expressed in the following way. “Pottery has a long life span, so even if it is reduced to fragments, the pictures drawn on it and the way that people used to enjoy their everyday lives can be preserved” (LOEWE x Suna Fujita website). In other words, this uniqueness stems from a powerful perspective that believes in the value of passing down to future generations the treasured moments of everyday life that have existed since the distant past. We hope you will take this rare opportunity to visit the exhibition.
【Regarding the lottery sale of Suna Fujita’s exhibited works】
All the works in the exhibition will be sold by lottery after the exhibition ends to enable them to be viewed throughout the exhibition period, also ensuring the opportunity for visitors to purchase works on occasions other than the day of the opening. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
[How to apply for the lottery sale]
–Visitors to the exhibition who wish to apply for the lottery sale, will be provided with the URL for the application form. Please note that we are unable to accept applications via email, telephone, or fax.
– Selection will not depend on the timing of applications.
– Multiple applications by the same person will be considered invalid.
– We will make a fair lottery selection after the exhibition and contact winners ONLY.
– Should winners not respond within one week after being contacted, we will carry out another lottery.
– We kindly ask visitors to refrain from applying for purposes of reselling the work. There is a possibility that applicants would not be selected, should we find that the application is clearly intended for the resale.
– Works can be delivered only within Japan.
–Further details regarding the lottery will be provided at the gallery during the exhibition period.
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For press inquiries, please contact: press@tomiokoyamagallery.com (Makiko Okado)
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