With roots in the Kyoto scene, Shinkai Kanzan studied under Kiyomizu Rokubei VI, who was the first in the famous Kiyomizu family to work as an individual artist as opposed...
With roots in the Kyoto scene, Shinkai Kanzan studied under Kiyomizu Rokubei VI, who was the first in the famous Kiyomizu family to work as an individual artist as opposed to the “anonymous craftsman” of Mingei ideologies. Certainly, this shines through in Shinkai’s work. He was creative with his understanding of pattern and color on the surfaces of his functional wares, adopting influences from the west such as geometric abstraction, as well as Op art from the 1960s. He specialized in sometsuke (blue and white porcelain), as well as iron glazed stoneware. He received the Japan Art Academy Award in 1980, and was designated several prestigious national prizes in Japan before his death in 2011.