Exhibition at Erskine, Hall & Coe (8 – 30 Nov, 2017) Yasuhisa Kohyama & William Wilkins

Kohyama Group (L-R): Homura, 2016, anagama fired stoneware, 19 x 15 x 7 cm / Homura, 2017, anagama fired stoneware, 60 x 54 x 25 cm / Homura, 2017, anagama fired stoneware, 35 x 34 x 17 cm / Courtesy of the artist and the Erskine, Hall & Coe

Acclaimed Japanese artist, Kohyama has played a very unique and significant role in reviving the use of the traditional Japanese ‘anagama' wood firing kiln, as he was the first potter in Shigaraki to build such a kiln since the Middle Ages. He is also a contemporary master of the ancient practice of Sueki, a method that originated in southern China and which accounts for his unglazed yet glassy surface textures. His works are inspired by ancient Japanese Shigaraki, Jomon and Yayoi ceramics, and are collected internationally and exhibited widely in Japan and overseas. They are included in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

Every time I fire, I’ve come to recognize that I am in Nature; I am a small part of Nature. Intently I watch Nature over and over again; working with clay, inspired by Nature, I am free to allow creation to happen, approaching the experience as the ancients did. –Yasuhisa Kohyama

Yasuhisa Kohyama, Suemono, 2016, anagama fired stoneware, 23.5 x 19 x 14.2 cm / Courtesy of the artist and the Erskine, Hall & Coe

Yasuhisa Kohyama, Suemono, 2017, anagama fired stoneware, 23 x 18.5 x 8.5 cm / Courtesy of the artist and the Erskine, Hall & Coe

Yasuhisa Kohyama, Suemono, 2017, anagama fired stoneware, 43 x 28.5 x 10 cm / Courtesy of the artist and the Erskine, Hall & Coe

Yasuhisa Kohyama, Danpen, 2010, anagama fired stoneware, 30 x 83 x 25 cm / Courtesy of the artist and the Erskine, Hall & Coe

Wilkins, a British painter working in Wales and Venice, creates pictures which focus on luminosity and opacity. Among other subjects, Wilkins has made still life painting a focus throughout his career, particularly on ceramics. He has painted the work of Lucie Rie, George Ohr and, most recently, Yasuhisa Kohyama.

William Wilkins, Still Life III, Kohyama Vessels, 2017, oil on canvas, 46 x 45.5 cm (unframed) / Courtesy of the artist and the Erskine, Hall & Coe

William Wilkins, Still Life I, Kohyama Vessels, 2016, oil on canvas, 35 x 30 cm (unframed) / Courtesy of the artist and the Erskine, Hall & Coe

The exhibition is on view until November 30, 2017.