Save the Date: Yoji Yamada

Please join us Thursday, July 18th for the opening reception of our second feature exhibition with Yoji Yamada! This new collection of works includes many wood-fired ceramics that feature beautifully textured finishings as well as spontaneous linework.

* Yoji Yamada will be in attendance! *

Location: Mjölk Shop | 2959 Dundas St W | Toronto

7-9pm

We look forward to seeing you!

Tsugi-Hagi

A solo exhibition of Japanese ceramic artist Yoji Yamada.

”Tsugi" means to connect a gap. It has the same meaning as “tsugi” found in kintsugi which is to mend a broken piece of pottery with gold.

 “Hagi” means to bind two things together. Whether that means to mend a tear in a garment by sewing another piece of cloth, or to gather various things together to make something new. 

We are pleased to present our second solo exhibition for Shigaraki-based potter Yoji Yamada. Though this is the second exhibition we have arranged for this artist, this is the first time we will have the pleasure of hosting Yoji Yamada here in person. 

There is an incredible atmosphere to Yoji Yamada’s work. Holding them in your hands, they have an ancient, almost excavated feel to them. Through wood firing using a Ittekoi kiln, the surfaces possess a rawness and depth. The changes that arise from natural glaze drawn from the clay through ash, flame and embers (known as keshiki or landscape) result in kase which can be described as a withered aesthetic. 

The forms of his work have the reassurance of history, inspired by centuries old shapes, including 18th and 19th century forms from England. These pieces create a connection between the past and the present, with the intention of being used in daily modern life. 

Beyond the landscapes found on the surfaces of Yoji Yamada’s work you will find pieces adorned in a rhythm of slip glaze patterns. Created freely and spontaneously, Yoji Yamada refers to this as “lines left as a result of the natural movements of the hand”. He offers that what gets his hands moving is through the comfortable rhythm of Japanese folksongs and traditional African music.

“I am interested in things that have survived through the ages, irrespective of their general value or differences between things that are natural and those created by man. Whether an object becomes something to be considered beautiful in the future relies chiefly on what we as creators bring to our work; by expressing an antique sense in our creations, we create a visualization of the passage of time, and it becomes easier to imagine the future of an object.”