Shio Kusaka: one light year

(Hardback)

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Description

Shio Kusaka's ceramic vessels articulate poetic connections, creating a cohesive and unique installation. ---------- "It's a striking effect-some pieces are bowl-shaped, others are cylindrical, a few have slim, sloping necks. Their linear arrangement suggests some kind of progression through time and space." - Document Journal ----------- While pulling inspiration and techniques from ancient Japanese ceramics as well as from popular culture and everyday life, Kusaka carves new language into her artwork. Employing various types of clay and firing methods, she experiments with line, color, and size to bring fresh life to the medium. This harmonious presentation is created from individual pieces and thematic groupings, resulting in an extraordinary, unified installation to be experienced in the round. Created in close collaboration with the artist and with many detail images, this book provides a deep dive into Kusaka's incredible work one light year. Published after Kusaka's hugely successful exhibition at David Zwirner, New York, in 2022, this catalogue studies her singular installation from all angles. A text by Kusaka illuminates her working process and provides unique insight into this particular work.

Reviews

"celebrates Kusaka's vision and love for organic creations, imperfections, and traditional methods"-- "Salon Without Walls"
"exquisite vessels...daring forms...vision and love for organic creations, imperfections, and traditional methods"-- "L'Officiel"
"Kusaka merges sculpture and drawing, representation and minimalism. Her work synthesizes from a broad range of visual culture, from ancient Japanese pottery to Sol LeWitt's wall drawings, asserting the role of ceramics within the realm of contemporary art"-- "Archinect"
"Shio Kusaka's light blue vessels practically glow and levitate above the copper sheets they're displayed on, with patterns of concentric lines whose subtle differences emerge through their repetition"-- "Sight Unseen"

Author Bio

Shio Kusaka has become known for her playful and open approach to the ceramic medium, crafting vessels and figures that are both functional and abstract. Painting and incising on thrown porcelain and stoneware surfaces, Kusaka merges sculpture and drawing while asserting the role of ceramics within the realm of contemporary art. Kusaka was born in 1972 in Morioka, Japan, and moved to San Francisco in the early 1990s. After receiving her BFA in 2001 from the University of Washington, Seattle, she moved to Los Angeles, where she currently lives and works.