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Shiro Tsujimura
When human beings create a certain form out of randomness, it seems to me that there are some commonalities from ancient times to the present day. From the past to the present, and into the future, the way people live will change in various ways.
Once in a lifetime you come across an artist with as much charisma as they have exceptional, natural born talent. Where the beauty in their artmaking belies tradition, where the purity of their creations flow from a lack of formal artistic training, where every detail across each artwork is perfectly imperfect.
One of the greatest ceramic artists in Japan, Shiro Tsujimura is a perfectionist in his art and recognizes his obsession with achieving his goals. He works the clay, he fires it, and lets it mature and age with the passing of time. Whether throwing clay or utilising an ink based medium he creates his own style and his own independent techniques, always linked, however, to the traditions of the past.
His works subvert the rules of traditional pottery. Shiro Tsujimura is self-taught, and although his work uses the ancient techniques of traditional Japanese and Korean pottery, his work has a unique personal identity, with a distinct freedom, playfulness and confidence. All of his works are full of pure and spiritual power, with the passage of time and the absence of art constituting the core tone.
One of the most gifted potters active in Japan today, Shiro Tsujimura has a tremendous range of both glazes and forms. Influenced by Momoyama era tea aesthetics, he creates powerful functional vessels that are dramatic, sensual and highly unique. Unlike most of his contemporaries, who closely control the firing process, Tsujimura delights in the unexpected and incorporates chance into his creative process. His work populates the collections of museums throughout the world.
Abstract and irregular, the works of Shiro Tsujimura are of the earth of Japan, at once profoundly ancient in their inspiration and fundamentally modern. They speak of life in ways that art has often forgotten. In this sense he is a fundamental artist, aware of his own traditions, bringing forth objects that touch even those who are not Japanese, because of their urgent vitality, their spatial presence, their life. This is art. Tsujimura is incontestably, the most capable artist to create works of art that retain purity, respect and traditions of Zen, Japanese and Korean ceramic art of the past.
- Art: Shiro Tsujimura