Suzuki Goro 鈴木五郎 Japanese, b. 1941

Tea drinking and its cultural practices have long been a universal expression of art and community. In the tea-drinking space, everything is connected: the tea drinker with their artfully crafted tea bowl, the ink painting adorning the wall, the host, and more. Tea offers a profound sense of gathering and shared experience through art.

This exhibition spotlights exquisite tea objects by master ceramic artists from Japan: tea bowls, water jars, tea caddies, as well as paintings by master potters who also practiced the art of calligraphy.

Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd. is delighted to present “Contemporary Chadōgu”: a summer showcase of contemporary Japanese ceramic tea utensils.

This exhibition offers a range of contemporary Japanese ceramic tea utensils for both life-long and new collectors of Japanese ceramics. The show focuses on tea bowls, water jars, and tea caddies by modern masters and contemporary talents.

Exhibiting artists: FURUTANI Michio 古谷道生 , SAWA Kiyotsugu 澤 清嗣, KAMADA Koji 鎌田幸二, KAWAMOTO Goro 河本五郎, KAWASE Shinobu 川瀬 忍, SUGIMOTO Sadamitsu 杉本貞光, SUZUKI Goro 鈴木五郎, TAKIGUCHI Kiheiji 瀧口喜兵爾, NAKAMURA Kinpei 中村錦平, KOIE Ryoji 鯉江良二, KAKUREZAKI Ryuichi 隠崎隆一, HAYASHI Shotaro 林正太郎, HIGASHIDA Shigemasa 東田茂正, TSUJIMURA Yui 辻村唯, MATSUNAGA Keita 松永圭太, SHINGU Sayaka 新宮さやか, KATO Tsubusa 加藤委, ISESAKI Mitsuru 伊勢崎満, OISHI Sayaka 大石さやか.

Dai Ichi Arts is delighted to present our Winter 2022 exhibition “Dreaming in Mino: Oribe & Shino”, exploring the work of modern and contemporary artists who practice in 2 much-loved styles of Japanese pottery: Oribe & Shino yaki.

Famous for its patches of copper green, its variety of colorful gradations that the glaze type permits and playful decorations, Oribe ware is an indispensable part of any Japanese Modern art collection. In its inception, Oribe ware was known for its daring departure from monochrome conventions in pottery during the Keichō and Genna eras (1596–1624). This ahead-of-its-time experimental spirit lives on in modern ceramics in the work of our Autumn selection of artists and potters who are at the forefront of carrying the tradition and spirit of Oribe into the future (Suzuki Goro, Higashida Shigemasa, Kato Yasukage, and more).

Often studied and collected alongside Oribe ware is the much loved Shino pottery type. Shino-yaki was first fired during the Momoyama era (1568-1603) at kilns in Mino (present-day Gifu). Usually fashioned on stoneware, it is characterized by a thick yet porous and viscous glaze. The areas where the glaze does not touch fire a bright vermillion or red where the kiln’s fire has licked the white Mino clay. Traditionally fired in Anagama kilns, Shino-yaki can take on a dramatic appearance with a stark contrast between colors, or subtle, muted tones of white gradation. Modern artists take on this traditional glaze and play with its opacity, for the silica in the glaze may oxidize differently and produce different capacities of translucency. The fine glassy effect can be seen in the examples of Nezumi-shino by Wakao Toshisada. Meanwhile, the work of Tamaoki Yasuo and Hayashi Shotaro showcase the ability of Shino glazes to take on a spectacular, iron-rich, red shade. This exhibition presents the various types of Shino-yaki, showing off various shades of blue-gray, a fiery rust-red, to a clear, pure white.