About the Exhibition
The Jennifer Lauren Gallery was delighted to present a rare exhibition of the work of Shinichi Sawada, one of the most recognised art brut artists from Japan, as an official event of the Japan Season of Culture. Sawada was displayed alongside the first British showcase of Akio Kontani and Nobuo Sasaki, two fellow self-taught Japanese ceramicists, little known in this country but sharing a complementary style. All three artists’ ceramics feature bold visionary creatures and demons, alongside more recognisable animals. The exhibition was held as a pop-up at Sway Gallery on Old Street in London.
The exhibition, 日本の陶芸家 三人展, included over twenty-five highly individual works taken directly from the artist’s studios in northern and southern Japan alongside photographs of the artists at work, and the studios where they create. Often placed under the label of outsider art, this exhibition asks the audience to look at these artist’s ceramics as contemporary works, to be judged on their aesthetic quality.
At 37, Shinichi Sawada is one of the most recognised art brut artists from Japan. His work recently featured in New York at Frieze Art Fair and in 2013 he featured in Massimiliano Gioni’s Encyclopedic Palace at the Venice Biennale.
Born in 1970, Akio Kontani started creating art in 2015. Since then, he has been working alongside Shinichi Sawada, three times a week, spending up to five hours each day. His works are often representations of animals and demons from his imagination.
Nobuo Sasaki (b.1956) began living in a social welfare institution in Hokkaido from 1970 due to mental health issues. His ceramic motifs often include animals, such as gorillas, bears, birds, or imaginary demons and friends. This was Sasaki’s first exhibition outside of Japan.
On Wednesday 10 July, Mizue Kobayashi, the Art Director of social welfare organisation Aisekai in Japan, gave a talk about outsider art in Japan, its beginnings and where it is today.
Catch a virtual tour of the exhibition by Edward Enayat here
It was one of the top seven exhibitions to visit in London as suggested here
It was reviewed by CL Gamble on here blog here