photo: SAIKI Taku
Package Series: Kinkai
| Artist | KUZE Kenji |
|---|---|
| Year | 1973 |
| Material/ Technique | ceramic |
| Size/ Duration | H31 × φ36cm |
| Copyright Notice | © KUZE Kenji |
| Year of acquisition/ donation | 2001 |
| Description | Born in Fukui, Japan in 1945. Lives and works in Kanazawa, Ishikawa. Kuze Kenji graduated from Kanazawa College of Art, where he majored in Industrial Design. He grew up in a pottery family and has been interested in pottery making since his high school days. He has a clear philosophy with regard to ceramic expression in general as product design and art making, and as an artist seeks to create forms that express the essence of phenomena in the context of the relationship between himself and the material clay. Since the 1960s he has established his own unique vision of ceramics as a pure plastic art while also responding keenly to the times, participating as a standard-bearer for the younger generation at the “Contemporary Ceramic Art: Canada, USA, Mexico and Japan” exhibition (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1971), which showcased international trends in post World War II contemporary ceramics. Major series include “Package,” “Trace,” and “Falling.” "Kinkai" is part of the early series “Package.” This series was an extremely conceptual project that saw Kuze interpret ceramics as objects that began with the negation of their functionality as vessels. Part of the “Trace” series, 97-09 is a piece that speaks eloquently of the series Kuze began in the late-1990s. In an extremely stoic fashion, Kuze leaves ‘traces’ of his own physical actions on a mass that expresses his deep connection to clay. Against the gently nuanced black, the gold-painted traces of the artist’s actions are keenly highlighted. As the title suggests, the pieces in "Falling" were shaped simply by allowing lumps of clay to fall under their own weight. It is representative of the series of the same name, which brings to the fore issues surrounding the natural world and human effort. Kuze’s creative approach of taking aim at ideas central to ceramic expression in Japan such as the critique of functionality, physicality and corporeality, nature and artifice, is alive with the spirit of criticism with which Kuze keenly observes various facets of contemporary society. |
NOTES
This Collection Data page contains the works and materials in the collection of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, as of April 1, 2018.
Artists are listed alphabetically by artist’s surname.
Works and materials by the same artists are listed according to the date of the work in principle.
Works whose dates are unidentified are listed at the end of each item. Some works are not listed according to the date of work due to their relations.
The data of works and materials are listed in order of title, production year, material/technique/form, dimensions, donor’s name, copyright holder and credit for photograph.
Dimensions are given by height (H) x width (W) in centimeters for plane work, and height (H) x width (W) x depth (D) in cm for 3-D work. Diameter (Ø) is used for circular work.
For the name of country or city, the name currently used in English is listed in principle.