Held at the
Sagawa Museum of Art in Japan, the 13th edition of the
KICHIZAEMON X exhibition is a collaboration between
Kichizaemon Jikinyu ,
nendo and master ceramicist
Raku Kichizaemon , who designed five projects centered on the texture, passage of time and material properties of crockery. The exhibition includes
Chuwan , representing the passage of time;
Jihada , an installation composed of five small spaces;
Michiwan , a series of four works that materialize the internal space of Raku ware;
Junwan - Chroma , a collection of eight ceramic works created by immersion in dye to separate colors; and
Junwan - Redox , a collection of three ceramic works fired after metal absorption.
Chuwan
Raku ware is characterized by the
raw expression of clay, its main raw material , made by hand molding, which gives it an irregular and very distinct shape. In the search for a display method that would show this characteristic, the idea of
floating arose. and
rotate the object . Several electromagnets and permanent magnets were combined in such a way as to achieve a balance between their “repulsive” and “attractive” forces, resulting in a
floating mechanism similar to a linear automobile.
Jihad
This installation was born from a suggestion by Raku Jikinyu that tea bowls could be displayed not on stands but
as they become part of everyday life . The resulting expression is as if the clay skin ("
jihada" ) of the bowl of tea spread into the surrounding space,
like moss or tree roots engulfing the environments in which they inhabit.
michiwan
One of the main features of Raku ware can be found
inside the bowl . However, the internal space of a bowl could hardly be felt in ordinary display environments. With this in mind, the originally “hollow” entity was reproduced as a
solid mass. sculpting clear acrylic based on 3D scanned data of the inside of a tea bowl.
Junwan - Chroma
Raku bowls are characterized by their soft, porous clay material and thick shape. The “Junwan (Saturated Bowl)” collection, launched in 2022, is a collection of tea bowls that
draw their own patterns by absorbing pigments . The concept was developed by imbuing the bowls with water and water-based fountain pen ink. The various actions that occur between the three elements of pigment, water and bowl create a
unique expression . The individuality inherent in each tea bowl, such as the type of clay, the degree of firing, the variations in thickness and the small irregularities are emphasized by the colors.
Junwan - Redox
For the new Raku ware design, the bowls were finished by firing after
absorbing an aqueous solution of metal ions and undergoing an oxidation-reduction (=redox) reaction . Typically, in ceramics, iron oxide and copper oxide are mixed with enamel to color the surface of a pot, but this collection tried a
new technique by placing metal components dissolved in water
inside the walls of the tea bowls . At the same time, the remnants of the struggle between the metal components and the vitamin C appear as fluctuations of color and pattern on the surface.
