The world of contemporary Japanese ceramics is brimming with dynamic approaches to the medium of clay with the use of vibrant colours, textured surfaces, and gravity-defying shapes. The current exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco explores this creative world through 32 pieces from its collections. From rugged works that mimic chunks of earth or stone to delicate forms imitating folds of paper or billowing textiles, the unconventional techniques used by ceramicists in Japan today are highlighted in detail to expand the visitor’s idea of what is possible in this traditional art form and to introduce the artists working in this dynamic artform today, revealing the makers behind the works on view. The exhibition includes work by 29 artists, most created over the last 20 years, and all gifted to the museum collection by Dr Phyllis A Kempner and Dr David D Stein.
Although rooted in mingei (folk art) and building upon Japan’s long history of pottery and ceramic arts, these works are anything but traditional. The Mingei (folk art) movement, led by Soetsu Yanagi (1889-1961) and supported by a new generation of artist craftsmen, endeavoured from the 1920s onwards to reveal the beauty of everyday objects and highlight their spiritual dimension. Soetsu Yanagi was one of the founders of the Shirakaba group and journal, which brought together, from 1910 onwards, intellectuals attracted to Western literature and art. He summed up this feeling by saying, ‘It must be modest, but not trashy, inexpensive but not fragile. Dishonesty, depravity, luxury – this is what Mingei objects must avoid at all costs; all that is natural, sincere, safe and simple – these are the characteristics of Mingei art’, from The Concept of Mingei, 1933.
Soetsu campaigned for the recognition of ‘Mingei’, coined from the words minshu (common people) and Kogei (folk craft), and in 1926, with the help of his potter friends Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963), Hamada Shjoji (1894-1978), and Kawai Kanjiro (1890-1966), he decided to create a museum dedicated to Mingei, which opened in 1936.
Dr Robert Mintz, the Chief Curator of the Asian Art Museum and the exhibition’s curator, explains, ‘This new generation of potters from Japan are now building on the legacy of the mingei movement while charting their own boldly experimental courses’. He notes that many of the featured artists also maintain social media accounts offering behind-the-scenes looks at their studio process. He further expands, ‘The artists in New Japanese Clay are challenging the conventions of functional ceramics and pivoting toward a purely sculptural experience. Their creations are meant to intrigue and delight; the vessel form is just a point of departure for spectacular experimentation. Through a wide range of innovative materials and methods, these artists are reimagining ceramics for the 21st century.’
Oroshi: Mountain Gust (2015) by Kino Satoshi is both a simple form, sleek in its minimalism, and a complex curve seemingly crafted by the forces of nature; in fact, it is carefully engineered to sit upright on a few inches of porcelain. The artist states that the main concept for his work comes from manipulating porcelain clay on a potter’s wheel and forming a specific space that only can be hatched by this skill, which results in a one-of-a-kind natural perception and unique characteristics.
His collection of works infuses the serenity inherently found in water, air, plants, and other natural elements conveying atmosphere. Furthermore, he tries to replicate the tension that quietly exists in our surroundings and form those impressions into solid objects. The inspiration for many of his works comes from the adjectives found in Japanese to describe the natural world. By fusing porcelain as a medium, the challenge of using a potter’s wheel, and the meaning of the eloquent words, the artist aims to combine the ceramicist’s techniques with his own concepts to bring about a distinctive space of originality in his work that is uniquely his own.
Similarly, Moriyama Kanjiro’s (b 1984) work, Kai – Turn (2015), is simultaneously a lesson in abstraction and calculated balance. He studied under his father Motomi and works at the Koishiwara kiln site, a traditional Mingei folk pottery, in the foothills of Kyushu. The artist works exclusively with the traditional clay of his hometown, turning it into contemporary complex shapes by pushing the boundaries between technique and material.
Elsewhere in the exhibition, works such as Fujikasa Satoko’s (b 1980) Seisei – Plant Growth (2015), Miwa Kyusetsu XIII’s (b 1951) Kakan – Flower Crown No 3 (2007), and Miyashita Zenji’s (1939-2012) Vase (2012) take inspiration from organic phenomena in their bountiful variety of precisely rendered forms, colours, and textures. Miwa Kazuhiko comes from a line of celebrated ceramicists in Higa – he is the third son of National Living Treasure Kyusetsu XI (1910-2012). Miyashita Zenji draws on the rich and varied traditions of Japanese ceramics to create highly evocative yet functional modern objects. In this vase, Miyashita employs the traditional Japanese ceramic technique of saidei, in which layer upon layer of different coloured clays are applied to create a striated appearance. It is at once abstractly geometric and naturalistic, suggesting rugged mountain peaks and valleys in its richly patterned surface. Like many of Miyashita’s works, the form of this vase is simple, prismatic, and unmistakably modern. Its pure and functional form also serves as a reminder that it is a useful object as well as a work of art.
Nakamura Takuo’s wine-coloured Mizusashi (2009) convincingly appears to be a raw chunk of unrefined stone, but it is a carefully crafted, lidded vessel made to hold water for use in the Japanese tea ceremony. Meanwhile, pieces such as Fukumoto Fuku’s (b 1973) playfully off-balance yet balanced Tsukikage – Moonlight (2013) meld vessels and plates together in an elegant, unclassifiable hybrid, hinting at functionality while subverting the conventions of clay wares.
Fukumoto Fuku is a key figure in the second generation of female artists currently working in the field of Japanese ceramics. Born into a family of well-known textile artists, Fukumoto chose instead to pursue a career in ceramics, beginning her career by studying under the ceramic sculptor and Sodeisha artist Akiyama You (b 1953) at Kyoto City University of Arts.
Ceramics have experienced a revival in interest globally since the pandemic; a BBC series from 2021, Handmade in Japan, explores this resurgence in popularity and suggests that ‘the slow, mindful craft of pottery’ w is a perfect antidote to the accelerated pace and multi-tasking frenzy of our online activities. However, in an ironic twist, this hands-on craft trend has been largely fuelled by social media. This exhibition hopes to exemplify this unexpected thriving of this ancient medium in the digital age: many of the featured artists maintain dynamic social media accounts, offering behind-the-scenes looks at their studio process. To connect audiences with artists more directly, exhibition labels include artists’ social media handles, giving visitors the ability to dive more deeply into the art long after they have left the gallery.
In addition to the collection of contemporary works, most of which have not been presented before, the exhibition includes a small selection of traditional mingei vessels, giving visitors a glimpse at the form’s past and a reference for just how far these artists have come. Dr Mintz expounded on this link to the past, ‘This new generation of potters from Japan would not exist were it not for the pioneering efforts of the 20th-century founders of the mingei movement. Of course, these contemporary artists veer far from the ideals held by their predecessors as they chart their own boldly experimental courses,’ says Mintz, who emphasises that the exhibition aims to foreground the artists behind these works, many of whom are women and most of whom are living.
Until 2 February 2026, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, asianart.org
