The tension between the old and the new can also be seen in the conceptual ceramic art of Japanese artist, Akiyama Yō, represented by Manhattan's Joan B Mirviss, Ltd., a long-time SOFA exhibitor in New York, but new to SOFA WEST. Widely considered to be one of the greatest ceramic artists living today, Akiyama was a member of the extremely influential Kyoto avant-garde group Sodeisha, which eschewed traditional Japanese ceramic functionalism in favor of modernist sculpture and contemporary abstraction. Mirviss says, "Akiyama's work is created with the theme of disintegration in nature and how life returns to clay.
He flaunts the limitations of his medium as he seeks to expose the very nature of clay in his bold, expressive, inverted forms. Evocative of the natural and transformational course of geological processes, even his smaller scale sculptures convey a sense of monumentality and timelessness." His works are features in countless museums around the world including national collections in Japan and prestigious museums in the US and Europe.
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