Shohei Fujita “Pots on the Wall”

8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Shibuya Hikarie 8F
October 12 – November 3, 2016
Venue hours : 11am – 8pm
Open everyday during exhibitions
Free Admission

Opening reception:　Wednesday, October 12, 6pm-8pm

http://www.hikarie8.com/artgallery/2016/10/shohei-fujita.shtml
 
 
A smooth touch like that of frosted glass and glossy colors are particular to Shohei Fujita’s work, and result from his original technique of layering glazes and then filing away at them for a long time. Sometimes he does not even know which colors will appear until filing the work after the process of glazing and firing. Fujita arrived at this technique after many years of experiments in layering glazes and combinations of colors. The series of small flower vases and pots is called Sekka (stone fruits), with inspirations from the smooth touch of plumply rounded pieces of broken glass shaped by waves found on the beaches or riverbeds of the Setouchi area where the artist is based, embraces beautiful curves that invite us to wrap in our hands. Fujita remarks that what he thinks is beautiful is always connected with nature. The colors which inspire him in nature, especially around water such as seas, rivers, or lakes, seem to have emerged wondrously from the earth itself, letting us sense their organic warmth, and leading us to recollect the existence of not only the earth but the entire universe.
 
The “Pots” in the exhibition’s title refers to pottery itself. Usually, we tend to inadvertently consider the pottery we purchase or admire as either “functional” or “dysfunctional”. Fujita aims to blur this boundary between the aesthetic and the domestic, and explores work like following:“for example, we notice that food is served on a plate that was until now hung on the wall like a painting. Or, a flower vase can be seen as a sculpture in which flowers can be arranged sometimes.”His works may go on the table, the shelf, or on the wall, changing from “functional” to “visually pleasurable” and back again, or combining both at once, and thereby filling and coloring the spaces of daily life.
 
Shohei Fujita was born in 1968 in Wakayama Prefecture. After he graduated from the Ceramics course of the Department of Crafts of Kyoto City University of Arts in 1995, he moved to the UK. He learned glass art at Edinburgh Collaege of Arts, where he completed his studies in 1997. He currently lives and works in an island located in the Seto Inland Sea. He also works in the unit “Suna Fujita” with ceramic artist Chisato Yamano. He has held numerous solo exhibitions in Japan including in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Mie. This is his second solo exhibition at Tomio Koyama Gallery following one in 2014.