Taizo Kuroda White Porcelain WARE-DAIZARA
May 06, 2021 - June 25, 2021
The rock garden of Ryoanji, located in the north of Kyoto, is known as one of the spaces that best epitomizes the sensibilities of Japan. The rectangular garden, which is about 330 square meters, is surrounded by a low earthen wall and consists of a field of white gravel punctuated only by fifteen rocks ranging from small to large. This abstract rock garden, filled with tension, excites the imaginations of those who see it; as a result, countless interpretations regarding the garden’s meaning have been handed down to us through time. Of all the small, intimate universes ever created by Japanese hands, this garden is the most beautiful and poetic.
When I look at the recent work of Kuroda-san, I am reminded of the small universe of the rock garden at Ryoanji. He has continued to create vessels of white porcelain that are free of color, pattern, or any other decoration. Their pure, unsullied white seems to hang suspended in the air, while their delicately proportioned and detailed forms brim with a sense of tension. I have paid attention to his work for some time, admiring his superior sense of design and steadfast skill. In recent years, however, he seems to have brought his work to a new level of perfection, creating astoundingly beautiful works that show a high degree of abstraction and clarity.
“Why on earth was this vessel created?”
“Why did it have to be in this shape?”
His works gives us the pleasure of expanding our imaginations and reflecting: it is precisely the profundity of his work that represents the richness of culture.For this, I extend my greatest admiration for Kuroda-san as a creator – a man who quietly spends his days before his potter’s wheel, but who lives a life full of boundless passion.
TADAO ANDO
Yoshii Gallery is pleased to announce its exhibition Taizo Kuroda White Porcelain – WARE-DAIZARA. With these pure, elegant forms, Kuroda strives to evoke an infinite world beyond the realm of earthly limitations. He considers his works to be a physical manifestation of his thoughts, a way to give form to the formless ideas that populate his consciousness. In fact, Kuroda views his work at the wheel as a way of producing words. With each piece, he conjures certain words, not only those that physically describe their rounded bodies, but also those that capture the tranquil emotions that accompany them. Though seemingly similar, each piece is irreplicable, a product of a specific time, place, and mindset combined with the unique motions of the artist’s hands, which he describes as “an abstract drawing in the air.”
Specifically, Taizo Kuroda seeks to embody the liminal spaces of the world, to give shape and weight to these metaphysical spaces. In his own words, he hopes to create the place “between ‘yes’ and ‘no’,” and “between existing and non-existing.” With his works, the emphasis is not only on the object itself, but also on the space within the object: the shape that Kuroda imbues in his vessels also necessarily shapes the space within the vessel.
With his final body of work, the WARE-DAIZARA (Cracked Stand), Kuroda takes this concept even a step further. With the bold cracks in the top of the objects, Kuroda draws even further attention to the negative space within the object. These cracks, which form naturally within the kiln, occur only rarely during the process of creation. Taizo Kuroda carefully selected the cracked works that best represent the harmony between the forms he created at the wheel and the forms unintentionally created by nature. In this exhibition, these works are displayed on a bed of sand, evoking the tranquil setting of the zen garden at Ryoanji. The pure white works rest on delicate bases and appear to hover over the sand, suspended just above the surface. The unique shape of the pieces make the works seem at once delicate yet strong, with lines that are both sensuous and firm.
