| P３へ | P４ | Ｐ５・Ｐ６へ | |
| The Phase Series ("PHASE"
story) by Rikizo Kawakami |
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
Chief Curator Tomohiro Daicho |
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| Kawakami,
who belonged to pottery groups "Togei-shudan Magma"″Sodeisha″played
a significant role in the post-war contemporary ceramics scene. He was initially recognized as a "social critic" during his youth, creating works that addressed pollution issues and satirized politics and economics. He also engaged in international activities through ceramic art, fostering close ties with Korean ceramists. The current exhibition provides an opportunity to appreciate Kawakami's present-day works, unlike the previous one at the Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art that showcased his early works until 1973 as a part of the Sodeisha Group : An Era Born Out of Avant-garde Ceramics. Central to the composition of the works are "PHASE" story. The Phase Series involves Kawakami serializing specific themes to explore the multifaceted nature of things from various angles and dimensions. The term "phase" originates from physics, and refers to a particular aspect within a repeating cycle. The repeating cycle can also describe the cycle of life, or the translation and correspondence from one phase to another. For Kawakami, phase doesn't merely exist in predictable harmony or stable relationships. Instead, he deliberately introduces disruptions or shifts to maintain correspondences, creating moments between stability and instability. The artworks in the Phase Series feature motifs like spheres and apples, placed in contrasting relationships of yin and yang, concave and convex, front and back, presence and absence,and life and death, evoking the viewer's contem- plation on spiritual aspects such as anguish and faith. While Kawakami was known as a "social critic" during his youth, attempting to express societal messages amid the "hustle and bustle," his current works in the Phase Series (though produced since the 1980s) reveal his contemplation and introspection on human nature in "tranquility." This process of moving from tumult to serenity could be seen as a transition from youth to maturity and old age. However, it transcends mere aging, as the cycle of reincar- nation and the birth of new life suggest a return to a youthful phase, as seen in the imagery recurrent throughout human history. Thus, Kawakami's Phase Series symbolizes not only individual representations of human life but also serves as an emblem of the extended history of humanity, perpetuating into the next cycle. |
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