WILSHIRE COURTYARD BUILDING/JAPAN FOUNDATION Exhibition "Yakishime" Ceramics

Wilshire Courtyard, 5700 Wilshire Blvd.

This building (1987) has always intrigued me as I drive down the Wilshire Corridor.  It seems to have inspired by Middle-Eastern ziggurats, or Mayan temples, both references aligning with our Mediterranean climate and geography.
But to my eye, it's a bit glamorous, very  elegant, and reminiscent of other dominating examples of LA city business architecture. But LA is definitely about glamour, so it's an easy acceptance.

It is beautiful, marble-clad, the right-angled set-back layers opening the building up to SoCal blue skies.  The interior courtyard, reception space, and interior garden/courtyard remodeling going on now,(by Michael Maltzan) is welcoming and truly special.  A farmer's market was in takedown mode as I strolled the arcade that divided the two buildings to find the Japan Foundation.  I was seeking a ceramics exhibit that I wouldn't have to drive to to Pomona for.

The sparkling atrium is soars, somehow feeling like art nouveau conservatory domes but so pristine and modern - and the warm sienna tones of the interior walls contrast so beautifully with the blue blue sky.  

(from Michael Maltzan  website)

A LANDSCAPE PATCHWORK QUILT

The courtyard was conceived as a planted tapestry of colorful and playful topographic elements.  This “patchwork quilt” is composed of a field of vibrant flowering plants ...

Further enhancing the three-dimensional nature of the patchwork are three large shade trellis structures.  Clad in custom white perforated metal panels, these pavilions support brightly colored bougainvillea to provide a cool, shaded gathering spot during the summer months...   courtyard elements, along with the meandering pathways, seating areas, and vivid signage, create a continuous visual experience that.. unite[s] the two courtyards.  

I loved walking diagonally through the courtyard, admiring the distinctive white perforated gazebos with vines sheltering dining tables.  White framed raised flats were filled with yarrow, iris (in November!) and other perennials, all at peak display.  It feels like strolling a public garden plot space, and it's uplifting to move through, softening the urban character - yes, we still have some space for nature in this city.



The Japan Foundation

The Japan Foundation is a new find (ad in LA Weekly) tucked along the road dividing the Courtyard's two buildings. It houses a small select library (including manga) devoted to Japanese language and culture, a gallery, and sponsors events of interest to lovers of Japan, language students, and prospective travelers.   Hours are limited - do check ahead. 

Yakishime Pottery

This pottery was once used daily by farmers, and its origins date back to the 12th century.  The surfaces are rough, and the iron contained in the clay, along with the unique glazing character caused by the special kiln, added color and texture not directly applied, yet intended, by the ceramicist. Most fascinating, it's unglazed.  The surface is vitrified by the heat of the kiln, making it waterproof.

The Japanese aesthetic sense has always moved me for its sensitivity to dailyness and  harmony - a centered place to contemplate nature's infinite beauty and complexity.  I love, too the valuing of humble, subtle, aged surfaces that cherish time's record upon the surface and form.

Yakishime's heritage is expanded upon by  the beautiful booklet provided near the gallery door. These are two examples are used for serving "washoku", Japanese cuisine, designated an "intangible cultural heritage treasure" by UNESCO in 2013.

I have known and admired raku pottery for some time, but this technique is new for me.

Black rectangular dish, Isezaki Jun, 2015

Isezaki Jun, the second son of potter Isezaki Yōzan, is one of the most renowned masters of Bizen pottery, a traditional ware that emerged nearly a thousand years ago in the Inde district of Bizen, Okayama prefecture. He is the fifth artist of Bizen pottery to be designated a Living National Treasure by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs.

Isezaki brings back the anagama traditional kiln form, that is dug into a hillside like a tunnel. Of significance in Bizen pottery production is the yakishime style glaze - glazes that are the results of natural wood ash and burn-products that occur in the kilns during the firing process. Isezaki therefore emphasizes the importance of the placement of his works inside the kiln. Even as an experienced potter, the artist cannot completely predict how the works will turn out; the firing process often brings out unexpected beauty that even the artist does not plan. The finest works are often results of the combination of careful design and fortuity. Isezaki’s works, which have bloomed from tradition, continue to emerge and expand in exciting new ways.

His works have been exhibited and collected by major museums in the world such as by the British Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  - from Onishi Gallery website 

Kakurezaki Ryuichi "So" (Pair), 2015

Kakurezaki Ryiuichi is a highly celebrated contemporary ceramic artist whose exhibitions in Japan often sell out within minutes of opening. Kakurezaki was born in Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu, and now lives and works in Imbe, the ancient home of Bizen ware. He has the advantage of being viewed as an outsider in Imbe, allowing him to experiment in ways that most of the other 500 potters working there cannot. While he works within the tradition of Bizen, his work is quite aesthetically different from conventional Bizen wares. His fresh and independent vision has inspired other potters to contend with classical forms, and has already established a standard of his own.

“I do not intend to create something avant-garde in the Bizen style. My works are always functional, and I create ‘crafts’ that are indispensable for everyday life. I think it important that professional potters should create something in response to the needs of our society. My preference is to be seen as a craftsman whose work is avant-garde, rather than an avant-garde artist.”  - from Joan B. Mirviss LTD gallery website   

Ichino Masahiko, "Tamba Dokai" (A lump of Tamba earth), 2015

above work, second view

Ichino Masahiko, born 1961, is represented at LACMA, and is a "star" of Japanese pottery, winning celebrity and prizes. He is a noted creator of Tanba/Tamba ware, named for the ancient kiln and its location. 

Tanba Ware ... is also called Tanbatachikui Ware which was appointed as the Japanese Traditional Crafts in 1978. ..The Anagama (the kiln of a hole on the side of a hill) was used once...

In the Edo era, climbing kilns imported from Korea increased the numbers of vessels to be fired at a time. Through the firing for 70 hours at the temperature of 1,300°, the pine wood ash fell into vessels and it reacted to the glaze, which lead to the unique phenomenon, “Ash Overburden,”, resulting in various colors and unexpected patterns.... A feature of Tanba Ware is to make the potter’s wheel counterclockwise.

Ceramic arts made from clays with rich iron under the graceful scenic environment of Tanbasasayama area, emitted a distinctive bitterness... Tanba Ware is rich in the shapes and colors of dark brown and black. The austere taste of Tanba is always praised by many ceramic lovers. -from website japanpottery.net

Mihara Ken, "Kei (Mindscape)", 2015

When I saw this piece I thought of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Guggenheim, and Frank Gehry's soaring celebration of human mastery when I see this artwork, and of origami, another gentle art.

Mihara Ken's (b. 1958) unique style is the culmination of a thoughtful dialogue between potter and clay.  Using materials from his native Shimane prefecture, Mihara constructs each work through an organic creative process.  His hand-formed works possess a strong linear quality while at the same time incorporating soft, delicate curves to create a unique combination of subtlety and solidity.  Elegant shapes, often drawn from ancient forms or more currently inspired by the tradition of origami, are fully sculptural and successful from every vantage point.  With repeated firings at high temperatures, the surfaces of these vessels radiate subtle and soft colors ranging from deep gray to peach to misty white and purple. 

While younger than most of his equally prominent colleagues, Mihara is able to convey in his vessels a confident design sense, sophisticated style and brilliance of execution of a far more mature artist.   

Selected Public Collections:

Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA

Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Peabody Essex Museum, New Haven, CT

Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA

Victoria & Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

 - from Joan B Mirviss LTD gallery website

Otani Shiro, Fire-colored Shigaraki jar, unknown period

Born in 1936, Otani worked for many years in the Shigaraki kilns, studying more than once in the U.S. His work embodies the aesthetic concept of "wabi cha"  (related to tea ceremony wares), the "chilled and withered", to hold in high regard work that is humble, honest, rough, simple.  The works are unglazed and dependent upon the unique quality of texture the Shgaraki clay displays after many days at high heat in the wood-fired kiln.

... This idea of harmony, which eschews the supercilious and egotistical in favor of the subtle and unassuming, forms the cornerstone of Otani's idea of beauty. This kind of harmony, however, should not be confused with the easily appreciated, predigested sort of beauty that lacks psychological texture and emotional tension. Instead, it is much like the imperfect perfection of nature--fragile, raw, full of contradictions--that is never redundant and always compelling

In the United States Otani's work has been collected by The Fogg Museum at Harvard University, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

Isesaki Koichiro "drops", 2014

This is one of a group of small rounded empty-center forms which seem to cluster together in relation yet so distinctive. It's easy to see this group containing metaphor, but mostly I smile a bit as it seems gently amusing and yet so calm.

This ceramicist was born in 1974, and is a son of Isezaki Jun, whose work is shown above. He studied in New York with Jeff Shapiro, who lived in Japan for 9 years beginning in 1974 and is an impressive ceramic artist himself.

Tanaka Tanome, "core", 2006

My pieces are consisted of many lamellas of clay that are attached on the surface of the hand-built clay core. .. the layers... getting all my feeling out madly... my interest was shifted to create the forms that have beautiful curved lines, like waves...

The anger, happiness and other feelings are always mixed and whirling in my mind... Now, I consciously create the pieces that are not only expressed my inner feeling, but also are born from me as new life-forms. -from Keiko Art International website artist statement

I thought of doves, of wind-cut, water-carved stones, of seaweed moving in currents, of thinnest skin tissues, of fishes fins determining direction. I hold my breath that a lamella doesn't detach, that there seems no imperfection in the joinings, unions, and navel-like spiral fin origins. Such impossible elegance, simplicity, complexity.

Kyoko Tokomaru

For whom do flowers bloom?

White flower has pure, vital power, rebirth power, and eroticism.

Born 1963, she has worked in the United States extensively.   Kyoko Tokumaru’s porcelain plants blossom forth with restrained energy, her spiky lances and unfurling fronds forming fantastical botanical creations. The artist begins with slabs of clay and then constructs them to create work rooted in existential explorations. In this regard, Tokumaru notes that her spatial expressions allow her to travel deep inside herself. Describing the experience as “an accumulation of texture,” she explains that she can feel her inner emotions being transferred into the clay through the touch of her hands. Tokumaru holds both a BFA and MFA in ceramics from Tama Art University, Tokyo.

I found this object off-putting and breathtakingly static, at the same time drawing up in astonishment at the exquisite detail and precision of the form. Other work by this artist is asymmetrical, or moves horizontally, crawling with tentacles and interwoven organic forms. Surreal and slightly threatening. How white does imply a barrier!

It's a long way from humble Bizen yakishime ware to this creation. I remain astonished and celebratory as I think of the beauty of form in these objects, so poignant as they wait to be seen.