KISHIO SUGA

Kishio Suga was born in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, in 1944. He graduated from the Painting Department of Tama Art University in 1968 and currently lives and works in Ito, Shizuoka.

Suga was a central figure in Mono-ha (School of Things), the influential art movement that emerged in Japan during the late 1960s and 1970s. As one of the leading artists of postwar Japanese art, he has continually forged a distinctive artistic path. Grounded in a personal philosophy informed by Eastern thought, including Indian philosophy, Suga explores the relationships between materials such as stone, wood, and metal, as well as the relationships among objects, space, and people. Through these investigations, he seeks to reveal the profound existence inherent within things themselves. Even today, as the reassessment of Mono-ha has become firmly established internationally, Suga continues to deepen his thinking, and his inexhaustible commitment to artistic production sustains the contemporary relevance of his work.

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MAKIKO KUDO

Makiko Kudo was born in 1978 in Aomori, Japan. She graduated from the Oil Painting Department of Joshibi University of Art and Design in 2002, and currently lives and works in Tokyo, Japan.

From moments when a familiar walking path “suddenly appears to shine” to rivers and places near water, the scent of plants, the breeze, the sound of insect wings, animals, and dreams at night.―Kudo embraces things within daily life that are normally overlooked applying her unique sensitivity to depict dreamlike worlds that are reconstructions of both scenes within the mind and reality, where light, sights, and landscapes she has actually seen coalesce with people and emotions. Kudo says she was deeply impressed by the natural environment where she spent her childhood as a sickly and lonely child, as well as animals, novels, manga, and anime (especially those by Hayao Miyazaki). The Post-Impressionist works of Matisse, Bonnard, and Munch have also served as inspirations. She states, “Ultimately, you could say that I am depicting light.”

For further information, please visit:
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KEIJI ITO

Born in 1935, Toki, Gifu Prefecture. Ito grew up in Mino that is home to a thriving ceramic industry, and whose potteries had undergone major reform in the Azuchi-Momoyama period. He currently continues live and work in Mino where both his home and workshop are located.

Ito entered Musashino Art University in 1954, where he studied oil painting. Upon graduating university he joined the design department of the Gifu Prefectural Ceramics Research Institute, where he was greatly influenced by Sakuzo Hineno, who was a leading figure in Japan’s crafts movement. While at first solely engaging in two-dimensional design work, he eventually also began to produce ceramics himself due to realizing the limitations of the connection between designing on a flat surface and with the actual three-dimensional works for which they were intended. Ever since, in addition to everyday vessels, tea ware, and crafts, he has produced three-dimensional forms such as “ceramic sculptures” and “installations” which from early on have combined other materials like iron. As a major driving force in contemporary Mino ceramics, Ito continues to pave the way for many young artists.

For further information, please visit:
https://www.tomiokoyamagallery.com/en/artists/keiji-ito/