클레이파크 > 화제의 전시 > <PRIMITIVE MODERN> TADAYASU SASAYAMA

PRIMITIVE MODERN

TADAYASU SASAYAMA

2013. 5.10 FRI - 6.2 SUN

Hours.

TUE - SUN 1p.m - 6p.m

Close on Mondays

Location.

ONE O ONE factory

ML bldg 126-2 susong-dong, jongno-gu, seoul, korea

PRIMITIVE MODERN

as a perspective of ONE O ONE architects

In recent years, Tadayasu Sasayama has been creating works with the concept of reevaluation of “primitiveness” that existed before “tradition”. This “tradition” refers to that developed using tools and techniques, or that formalized in the Edo period (1603 - 1867); and that excessively conservatized in the modernization after the Edo period. Sasayama has fascination with primitive designs and aesthetics that can be seen in objects and styles from earthenware and earthen figurines of the Jomon period (145th century BC - 10th century BC) to “wabi-sabi” culture completed by Sen no Rikyu (tea master, 1522 - 1591). Those were crafts enriched in daily life.

Sasayama’s works are characterized by their spontaneous and minimal form derived from the magical essence of nature and materials which was once interpreted by Sasayama in his own way.

Although the concept of his works is Japanese primitiveness, his art also has an aura that reminds us of Korean primitiveness that existed before “tradition” of the Joseon period.

This is where I discover common ground between his works and what ONE O ONE architects stands on in its architecture design.

I met Sasayama personally through Hiroshi Innami. Our relationship with each other is not one of country-to-country, but of individual and neutral - which is one reason why this catalog is available only in English. Perhaps, fate meant for us to meet. For it seems more than just a coincidence that Sasayama was born and raised and has been based in Shigaraki, a town to which Korean potters migrated in the past, and also that the town name is said to originate from the Korean language.

I would be most happy if you could feel, through this exhibition, the aesthetics toward which one o one architects is moving. Please relax and enjoy Sasayama’s works of art.

Choi Wook

ONE O ONE architects

I first began making contemporary ceramic art in 1958 when I became a student at the Kyoto School of Craft. This was soon after the pioneers of contemporary Japanese ceramic art Yagi Kazuo, Suzuki Osamu, Yamada Hikaru and others had formed the avant-garde group Sodeisha. Yagi and Suzuki would sometimes come to the Kyoto School of Craft to give instruction in sketching and hand-building,and they provided me with the impetus to begin creating my own objet.

At the time, my teachers strongly impressed on me the importance of creating unique, individual workthat is not a copy of someone else, even if first attempts may turn out to be amateurish.

Today, almost 50 years later, this idea is still one of the most important elements of my work.

In 1967, I joined Sodeisha as a member, and continued to exhibit my work in conjunction with

the activities of Sodeisha. Later, I traveled a number of times to America and Eurpoe.

In Europe, I studied Christian art and architecture, and visited many museums to study art from impressionist to cubist. In America I experienced firsthand the lively contemporary art scene at the time, especially trends that had come from Europe as Dadaism and evolved in America into pop art and minimalist. At the time, I was particularly interested in the minimalists such as Donald Judd.

In my work, I do not consistently use a single technical style. I have adapted a variety of formative and firing techniques and incorporated new methods of production according to evolving expressive ideas and images. A major turning point in my work came about in the late 1970s as a result of my interest in the relationship between Zen thought and the aesthetics of Sen Rikyu. I discovered a common ground between Rikyu’s wabi (simplicity) and sabi (taste - discovery) and the world of American minimalist art that fascinated me.

Another turning point for me was when I met Isamu Noguchi, at the time one of the world’s top sculptors. Noguchi taught me about the emotional aspects of the Japanese identity.

Around this time, I began developing my series of large screens, houses where people live and graves that hold deceased people, and forms derived from images of tomb shapes.

Tadayasu Sasayama