EN IWAMURA: GLANCES AND ECHOES
Almine Rech Shanghai is pleased to present En Iwamura’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, “Glances and Echoes”.
October 25 – December 28, 2024
One of the most inventive artists of his generation, Iwamura, who was born and brought up near Kyoto, has developed a singular approach to creating ceramic sculpture that has been influenced by his interests in Japanese cultural history and contemporary pop culture, his travels overseas, and his personal experiences as a relatively new, young father. Sophisticated, imbued with a sense of elegance that flows naturally from Japanese fine craftsmanship, and inescapably clever and fun, Iwamura’s works rethink and reinvigorate the long, influential tradition of ceramic art from they have emerged.
On the road to developing his work’s unique visual language and technical features, Iwamura first studied at the Kanazawa College of Art on the west-central coast of Japan. The city of Kanazawa is well known for its museums, handicrafts traditions, and well-preserved historic districts from the Edo period. There, the art school where Iwamura studied is renowned for its programs in crafts and the industrial arts, as well as in the fine arts. In Kanazawa, where Iwamura majored in crafts, the artist explored a wide range of art forms, materials, and art-making techniques.
In his vividly colored ceramic sculptures, Iwamura employs textured surfaces evoking ancient Japanese pottery’s handcrafted character while expanding and adapting the simple, modernist-feeling silhouettes of haniwa to create voluptuous, sensuous forms exuding an air of mystery and fun. His sculptures’ faces may convey a sense of peacefulness, wonder, inquisitiveness, or contentment. Ranging in size from small to monumental, Iwamura’s creations push the boundaries of ceramic art’s potential as an expressive sculptural medium.
With the gallery’s first-ever presentation of Iwamura’s work in China, this innovative creator representing the latest pioneering developments in one of his country’s most ancient crafts will have a high-profile opportunity to expand the reach of the deeply humanistic, resonant message of his magical art.