A Meditative Relish on Japanese Mobiles and Ceramics
9:24:00 AM
YUKO IKEDA CERAMICS
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| photo via xiaoqi |
Unlike Kant, who believed that only objects without practicality withhold beauty, 18th French painter Jean Siméon Chardin once said that utensils all have their own souls.We can perceive and enter their souls through generous encounters. I, and certainly Yuko Ikeda would agree with the latter.
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| photo via xiaoqi |
Ikeda graduated from Pratts with an art degree, but only got her hands on pottery after she returned to Japan. Through self-taught and uncountable hours in her garage studio, Ikeda whirls daily inspirations and her unique feminine personality into pots and plates.
As I ran my fingertips along Ikeda's ceramics, trailing behind are their blossoming spirits, which some resonate a tree, a shimmering river, clouds before a storm, or an aging petal. Suddenly, plates and cups are no longer containers for the daily frivolity but the sum of everyday beauty throughout our lives.
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| photo via xiaqi |
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| photo via shopping design |
RHYTHM by Tempo
Rhythm features a collection of handmade mobiles by Japanese studio Tempo. Geometric shapes idly dance and twirl in the air, creating a gentle rhythm and special balance between itself and space through time. Their structure changes gradually through different perspective with its shadow as a double, like a slow waltz with itself.
Constellation is a mobile of dots connected with thin threads in perfect angles. Gazing upon its three-dimensional movement is like watching stars flicker and dance above our heads. Every dot’s minimal weight plays an important part in the whole structure. With their pattern and order as guidance, gravity unfolds its own shape and its kinetic beauty.
The Throughout mobile is an elegant flow of champagne bubbles. Or a cloud’s gradual peaceful movement in a glowing sunset.
Designers create their foundation. Space, gravity, and time bring them life. The beauty of Tempo mobiles is a collaboration of craftsmen and nature. So often artworks are solid pieces of artists’ minds and visions, but artists of Rhythm step back from the usual spotlight and let the mobiles interact with their audiences and the exhibition space.
all photos above via tempo
Both Rhythm and Ikeda’s ceramics unconsciously capture the intangible spirit of living and breathing with our surroundings. Humble and almost reluctant to articulate, these Japanese designers and artists know best how to let their artworks speak for their own. When I left the gallery, the dusk had darkened, pedestrians scurried frantically. Cars and flocks of scooters rumbled and shook the ground. But Ikeda’s tender ceramics and Tempo’s meditative mobiles still lingered inside me, and I feel oddly peaceful and generous towards time and everything within.
Exhibition Info:
RHYTHM - 9/3 ~ 9/25 at Pong Ding Art Gallery
YUKO IKEDA CERAMICS - 9/3 ~ 9/21 at XiaoQi Gallery
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Exhibition Info:
RHYTHM - 9/3 ~ 9/25 at Pong Ding Art Gallery
YUKO IKEDA CERAMICS - 9/3 ~ 9/21 at XiaoQi Gallery
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