Aso Kojima’s ceramics

Last weekend, I went to Kawagoe to visit a gallery, Utsuwa Note to see Aso Kojima’s ceramic exhibition. 

Exhibition room.  How nice it is!  

When I was younger, I collected ceramics, but I lost interest in it before I knew it.  What inspired me look at ceramics again was an article in an art magazine. 

It says that there is a new movement in the Japanese ceramic industry after a long stagnation caused by the bubble economy bursting.  The characteristic of the new artists’ work is that they are strongly connected with “nature.”  We can feel the touch of soil and fire in their works and Aso Kojima is one of the artists in this new movement. 

Aso Kojima is making ceramics and also growing produce.  It’s his lifestyle that he sticks to.  Being familiar with ‘soil’ as a farmer, he is trying to develop something different.  He is really an artist rather than an artisan because of the way he lives and what he makes are both unified. 

I bought these things and they all appear in our daily table.

I bought some pieces at the gallery including bowls, a small vessel and what not.  They are strong, warm and sensitive and there is no doubt that they are good match with Japanese daily dishes.  Speaking prices, to my surprise, they added up to only 8,000 yen!!! 

“It’s merely ceramic.” Kojima often says.  It means that his ceramics should be used a lot in your daily life, not put on higher place on your shelf just for appreciation.  This philosophy is in his pricing.  They might be merely ceramic, but they are usable art pieces.  It would give us a lot of enjoyment in our daily life. 

Gallery Utsuwa Note is located very close to Kitain temple in Kawagoe.

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