My practice embodies a metamorphosis across half a century: from the disciplined mastery of the vessel to its liberation into the spatial field. Through the lens of 'Non-Color' (Hijiki), I seek to dissolve the boundary between clay and void, transforming the medium into a site where perception germinates. It is a pursuit of a silent, tactile tension—an art that does not merely occupy space, but redefines the nature of presence within it.
Artist Statement: Exploring Makoto Hatori's Artistic Works and Philosophy
My artistic journey is grounded in a continued inquiry into ceramics―its materials, its dialogue with nature, and its resonance with human experience. By tracing the themes that guide my work, one may gain a clearer understanding of my approach, my intentions, and the evolving philosophy behind my practice. As part of this inquiry, my commitment to unglazed and naturally glazed ceramics arises from a philosophy that honors the quiet beauty of clay in its most elemental state. By leaving the surface untouched―or allowing only the fire’s own traces to appear―I let the clay’s textures, earthy tones, and organic forms speak for themselves. This pursuit is inseparable from the sources that shape my creative imagination: the rhythms of nature, the sensibilities of Japanese aesthetics, and the quiet accumulations of personal experience. Each piece emerges from contemplation and an emotional presence that guides every gesture on the wheel, embodying simplicity, sincerity, and a deep harmony with the natural world. Through this approach, I hope the motivations behind my choices―and the meanings that reside within my ceramic forms―may reveal themselves gently to the viewer.
In 1970 and again in 1974, I entered into an apprenticeship under a master of traditional Japanese ceramics, laying the foundation for a lifelong engagement with clay. What began as a disciplined training within an inherited craft soon became a personal search for the place where human intention meets the unaltered beauty of nature. I could not have foreseen that this path would lead me to articulate the spirit of nature itself―to recognize a profound connection to the world beyond the self and to understand my own presence as an artist. These experiences gradually reshaped the ethos that guides my work today, grounding it in a sustained attentiveness to nature, material, and the limits of human intention.
Since the formative years of my ceramic practice, my pursuit has been to bring the self into harmony with the world beyond it, guided by the philosophy of 無為自然 mui-shizen―unconditioned spontaneity, the state of things “as they are.” My awareness of the unaltered order of the universe has been shaped through direct encounters with nature’s ash glaze, a force born of fire and chance that transforms what is impure into something quietly sublime. This path has instilled in me a deep humility, a reverence for unplanned convergence, and an acute awareness of the subtle discord between body and mind. Together, these form the core of my artistic creed.
In 1969, during my years at art university, I had already began incorporating sand as a sculptural material of radical “externality”―a substance that resisted containment and refused to complete itself. In retrospect, these early works carried the seeds of a philosophy that would come to define my path. By incorporating raw, unstable sand into my forms, I sought to invite chance, disrupt the equilibrium of the object, and allow the work to open toward forces beyond my control. These early experiments revealed the generative potential of the unknown and marked my first exploration into how a material can summon what lies outside the artist’s intention. This became the conceptual foundation that would shape my path from that point forward.
In 1993, seeking to extend inquiries these inquiries beyond Japan, I presented “Makoto Hatori: English Experience of a Bizen Potter” in London. There, through natural-ash Bizen ceramics, I encountered the creative tension between cultural inheritance and global dialogue. The exhibition became a turning point―an opportunity not only to share the lineage of natural-glaze ceramics, but to recognize how tradition itself transforms when placed in conversation with the wider world.
By 1995, with the exhibition “Facing Tradition” in Tokyo, I found myself confronting the very foundations of ceramic convention. This period deepened my commitment to exploring the dialogue between past and present, between inherited forms and the demands of contemporary expression. The exhibition marked a moment in which tradition ceased to be a fixed reference and instead became a living, questioning force within my practice.
A further shift arrived in 2012, with “Ceramics Meet Non-ceramic Materials” at the Nihon University College of Art. Here I sought to dissolve the assumed boundaries between clay and other materials, embracing their inherent otherness and allowing each to speak with its own autonomy. During the exhibition, I also delivered a lecture to the students of the university, reflecting on the transformation of an envisioned image into tangible form and the expressive limitations―and freedoms―offered by different materials. This experience reaffirmed the profound responsiveness of clay: its subtle elasticity, its capacity for yielding and resisting, and its ability to absorb intention while retaining its own quiet agency.
A continuous thread runs across these solo exhibitions―1969, 1993, 1995, and 2012: the desire to question, to expand, and to return to the elemental. Each stands as a milestone in the unfolding of my artistic philosophy, revealing different facets of the same enduring inquiry into materiality, transformation, and the living dialogue between the artist and the world.
In my early work, I approached traditional forms not as fixed models to be replicated, but as interlocutors―presences to be studied, questioned, and quietly engaged. I employed cloth-texturing techniques and autumn grass motifs, integrating the tactile presence of textile patterns with the quiet austerity of unglazed stoneware. Fired through traditional wood-firing and charcoal-smoking methods, the surface was shaped by prolonged heat and natural ash deposits, allowing chance and material response to remain visible. These works reflect my early dialogue with traditional craftsmanship, while already opening toward a sensibility that sought to bridge inherited techniques and contemporary perception.
Works such as this function as points of departure rather than conclusions. Through them, I began to examine how tradition may remain alive―not as a fixed inheritance, but as a field of continuous reinterpretation. By placing traditional non-glazed ceramics in dialogue with contemporary forms and contexts, I seek to reveal a shared ground where past and present coexist without hierarchy.
Traditional ceramics have profoundly informed my understanding of material integrity, harmony with nature, and the ethical dimension of making. At the same time, my practice resists the simple preservation of tradition. Instead, I position tradition as a generative force―one that gains renewed relevance when confronted with contemporary perspectives, materials, and modes of perception.
Through the juxtaposition of historical methods and my most recent works, I invite viewers to contemplate the shifting relationship between tradition and modernity. These encounters do not resolve into synthesis; rather, they generate new questions and values. It is within this dynamic tension that my work continues to evolve.
My approach is informed by a spirituality grounded in material experience and transformation―a sensibility long embedded in traditional unglazed ceramics. This orientation toward nature, impermanence, and becoming has shaped my artistic identity, forged through the discipline of fire and material. Works grounded in these principles are held in the collections of institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum.
Throughout my career as a ceramic artist, I have embraced unconventional aesthetics informed by principles such as 在るが儘 arugamama (“as it is”), 居着 ituki (a state of grounded steadiness and release from the compulsion to change), and kata (model or form). These concepts guide my practice beyond conventional definitions of ceramics, allowing my works to emerge not as fixed objects, but as dynamic entities―forms that remain open to dialogue with external forces while cultivating an inner coherence of intention and harmony.
My understanding of ituki is also shaped by its role within traditional Japanese martial arts, where composure, grounding, and freedom from unnecessary tension enable both technical precision and equilibrium. In my ceramic practice, this sensibility governs the rhythm of creation itself. Forms are allowed to arise naturally―unforced yet resolute―holding a quiet balance between stillness and transformation.
One of the clearest articulations of these principles can be found in “Vessels: Otherness,” an installation of twelve traditionally fired vessels exhibited at the International Triennial of Silicate Art in Hungary in 2014. For me, the encounter between flame and clay during the firing process is a retroactive search for what remains unobstructed and essential. Through this work, I sought to question the self-contained nature traditionally assigned to vessels―their destined role of containment―and instead explore their potential to become events: forms open to transformation, receptive to the outside world, and capable of disclosing their own state of being. This approach temporarily liberates the conceptual “vessel” from its inherited function, returning it to “material” so that its possibilities may expand once more.
My journey in ceramics has led me to abandon artificial glazes in favor of pursuing the intrinsic nature of clay itself―an approach grounded in my desire to move beyond surfaces toward material presence. Through my earlier participation in the International Ceramic Symposium in Panevezys, Lithuania, as well as the International Ceramic Biennial in the Republic of Korea, I developed this inquiry through encounters between ceramics and other materials, seeking to reveal new modes of perception.
These works examine the limitations of self-contained representation: how an object, when sealed within its own form, fails to disclose the deeper qualities of matter. By opening the work to external forces, contexts, and material dialogue, I aim to let the material speak beyond convention, returning it to a state in which essence precedes expression.
In my pursuit of what I call “natural glaze” or “unglazed ceramics,” I draw deeply from the traditional Japanese understanding of natural ash glaze and the aesthetic sensibilities embedded within it. By stepping away from the established practice of applying glaze and firing a piece to completion, I seek to question prevailing assumptions about how ceramic works are brought into being.
Within the history of Japanese natural ash glaze lies a profound artistic worldview―an ethos of beauty that I continue to explore, reinterpret, and expand. My aim is to shift the paradigm: from ceramics perfected through applied glaze toward a new perspective grounded in the essence of non-color.
This line of inquiry shaped the ideas behind my work for the 35th International Ceramic Competition L’Alcora, whose theme was “Non-Color.” There, I examined the chromatic potential of white as a medium capable of expressing the enigmatic duality of co-embodiment and decolorization―a means of revealing the subtle dissonance between mind and body. In this context, I regard “white” as a symbol of the uncharted and the unknown, a liminal state that I have come to call 非色 (Non-Color). My creative philosophy is intimately rooted in this notion.
The concept of the self that underpins my practice is likewise constructed upon this foundation. By layering white both upon the surface of the work and upon the very notion of identity, I engage in a process of mental purification―an attempt to unsettle and transform preconceived values. In Japanese culture, white has long held profound significance, often associated with the divine, even as contemporary society has shifted from religious sensibilities toward entertainment. It embodies a paradox: unwavering purity and transcendence on one hand, and the liminality of life and death on the other―echoing its historical role as a mourning color across the Asian continent and peninsula.
Rather than offering explanation or closure, I aim to present an open state of existence―one that invites externality and exceeds conventional frameworks of art. To that end, I employ physical processes that reveal the intricate relationships between clay and other materials, allowing these interactions to become essential elements of my artistic language.
Both ceramics and iron, in confronting one another through their material presence, generate a living stativity―a state of poised stillness that allows their relationship to remain fluid and open. The accompanying paper drawings function as fragmented material with latent utility, forming a kind of “dance” that encircles the work’s spiritual dimension. Together, these elements construct physical worlds of intricate structure, where every component exists in relation to forces that extend far beyond the artist’s initial intention.
This attentiveness to material presence and relational openness became especially urgent in 2020, when a global pandemic descended upon us. As familiar boundaries between subject and object faltered, we found ourselves standing before the unforeseeable. In seeking to reaffirm the presence of subject and object as a unified whole, I turned to the tradition of 墨絵 sumi-e (水墨画 suiboku-ga) in Japan. Through the disciplined act of drawing brush lines―an embodiment of the physicality of both mind and body―I came to conceive the Physicality series as a form of intellectual suiboku-ga within the medium of ceramic art.
Ultimately, my guiding theme is “non-color,” an aesthetic orientation that underpins the entirety of my practice. It seeks to embody the essence of the traditional Japanese understanding of natural glaze―an absence of glaze that reveals, rather than conceals, the truth of the material. Through the deliberate modulation of expressive consciousness, I strive to create works that carry the memories of the body and trace its continuous transformations.
Within each work, the materials―combined into a unified yet subtly shifting form―assume distinct symbolic roles. The unglazed ceramic, with textures reminiscent of 和紙 washi paper and a soft, milky-white surface, evokes a spiritual domain. In contrast, the non-ceramic element―destined one day to decay―represents the imperfect and transient perceptual world.
All things exist in a state of flux, moving ceaselessly through cycles of emergence, dissolution, and renewal. This unending transformation is the very mode of existence for “things.” It is within this ever-shifting horizon that I locate, and quietly superimpose, my own being.
My body of ceramic work stands as the ongoing outcome of a long inquiry into philosophy, existential thought, and the subtle dynamics of perception. Each piece invites viewers to reconsider their assumptions about reality, impermanence, and the enigmatic presence of existence itself.
In contemporary ceramics, however, a growing detachment from materiality has become increasingly apparent. The vital bond between mono (thing) and form has weakened, as though form alone were sufficient without the grounding force of clay. Ornamentation is often privileged over the integrity of the object, and the essential dialogue between hand, material, and form risks being lost. This drift concerns me deeply.
To reclaim the artistic mission of ceramics, we must restore our awareness of the object as a material presence―something that exists with weight, breath, and agency. We must rekindle the will of handwork: an intentional, embodied engagement that awakens the intrinsic vitality of clay and allows it to speak in its own voice.
Guided by a discerning gaze that bridges the traditional and the contemporary, I seek to reinterpret the philosophical foundations that shape Japanese ceramics. My creative journey is not confined to any single category; it moves fluidly between inherited traditions and contemporary experimentation. Through this practice, I aim to infuse long-standing ceramic thought with new perspectives, ensuring that the discipline continues to evolve, resonate, and inspire in the years to come.
Following the visual selection of works that embody these principles, a series of supplemental notes provides a deeper exploration of the historical milestones and personal encounters that have shaped this philosophy.
Selected works referenced in this statement:
Installation view
Surugadai Gallery
Kanda, Tokyo, Japan, 1969
“Phase” ― Three semicircular vessels, each containing different amounts of sand.
“Relation” ― A cloth bag filled with sand placed in a crisscross arrangement over a plaster cylinder. These works, composed of plaster, wood, cloth, and sand,
explored abstraction through materials that invited chance and instability. By using sand―a substance prone to accidental displacement―Makoto Hatori sought to evoke a “state” of expanding physicality. The underlying inquiry into the conditions of physicality and material presence established in these early works continues to inform his practice today.
Installation view
Leigh Gallery
London, United Kingdom, 1993
The exhibition was featured in *The Ceramic Review*,
May/June 1993, Issue No. 141, pp. 10–11.
Installation view
Galerie d’Art Le Coin Ginza
Tokyo, Japan, 1995
Installation view
Art & Design Gallery, Nihon University College of Art
Tokyo, Japan, 2012
Stoneware (unglazed, slip-decorated), wood-fired and charcoal-smoked
H 34 × W 39 × D 39 cm
Exhibited at The Traditional Crafts New Exhibition,
Japan Kōgei Association, Tokyo
H 19.5 cm
Wood-fired at approximately 1280°C; eight-day kiln firing
Right: Ring, 1993
Stoneware with slip painting
H 33.0 cm
Oxidation-fired at approximately 1300°C; eight-day kiln firing
Both works were exhibited in the solo exhibition *Makoto Hatori: English Experience of a Bizen Potter*, Leigh Gallery, London, June 15–27, 1993. They were acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in 1993 and are now part of its permanent collection.
H 31.0 × W 21.0 × D 21.0 cm
Wood-fired at approximately 1280°C; eight-day kiln firing
Right: Bizen-style Cylindrical Lidded Mizu-sashi, 1996
Thrown and altered stoneware with natural wood ash and 胡麻goma (sesame-seed) ash markings
H 17.0 × W 19.0 × D 19.0 cm
High-temperature Bizen-style wood firing; eight-day kiln firing
Both works entered the permanent collection of the British Museum, London, in 1996.
They are also featured in Wood-Fired Ceramics: 100 Contemporary Artists, by Amedeo Salamoni, with a foreword by Jack Troy (Schiffer Publishing, 2014), pp. 90–91.
Wheel-thrown and altered stoneware with natural ash and fire-change effects.
Traditional reduction firing at 1250 °C; eight-day kiln firing.
Installation dimensions: H 18.5 × W 58.0 × D 16.5 cm.
Exhibited in the 2nd International Ceramic Triennial UNICUM,
European Cultural and Technological Center Maribor (EKTC),
Manor Betnava, Slovenia,
May 15 – September 30, 2012.
Wheel-thrown stoneware with natural ash and fire-change effects.
Traditional reduction firing at 1260 °C; eight-day kiln firing.
Installation dimensions: H 20.0 × W 76.0 × D 27.0 cm.
Exhibited in the 4th International Triennial of Silicate Arts,
Kecskemét Cultural and Conference Centre,
Kecskemét, Hungary,
August 3 – September 7, 2014.
Installation
Wheel-thrown and altered stoneware with natural ash and fire-change effects.
Traditional reduction firing at 1280 °C; eight-day kiln firing.
Installation dimensions: H 19.5 × W 75.0 × D 12.5 cm.
Exhibited in the 5th Biennial International Competition for Artistic and Traditional Ceramics, Museo dell’Arte Ceramica, Ascoli Piceno, Italy,
December 14, 2017 – February 5, 2018.
Stoneware (unglazed with slip), wood elements, sprayed salt solution.
Gas kiln firing at 1380 °C; oxidation atmosphere; two-day firing.
Created at the Panevėžys International Ceramic Symposium 1996.
Background work: 無 Mu, 1996
Exhibited at the Panevėžys Civic Art Gallery,
Panevėžys, Lithuania.
August 2 – October 6, 1996.
Stoneware.
Approx. height: 17.0 cm.
Created at the Panevėžys International Ceramic Symposium 1998.
Exhibited at the Panevėžys Civic Art Gallery,
Panevėžys, Lithuania,
July 31 – October 4, 1998.
Featured in Contemporary Ceramics, by Emanuel Cooper
(Thames & Hudson, 2009).
This work is also referenced in ceramics education programs in the United Kingdom.
Stoneware with slip painting and aluminum cable additions.
Traditional oxidation firing at 1250 °C; eight-day kiln firing.
Dimensions: H 44.0 × W 99.0 × D 39.0 cm.
Exhibited at the 1st World Ceramic Biennale 2001,
World Ceramic Center, Icheon, Republic of Korea,
August 10 – October 28, 2001.
Stoneware with slip painting.
Traditional oxidation firing at 1250 °C; eight-day kiln firing.
Dimensions: H 38.5 × W 102.0 × D 16.5 cm.
Exhibited at the World Ceramic Biennale 2003,
Icheon World Ceramic Center,
Icheon, Republic of Korea,
September 1 – October 30, 2003.
Stoneware (unglazed with slip), aluminum board.
Installation dimensions: 9.0 × W 95.0 × D 53.0 cm.
Electric kiln firing followed by charcoal smoking at 1250 °C;
reduction atmosphere.
Exhibited at the Ceramic Museum of L’Alcora,
L’Alcora, Spain,
June 26 – September 6, 2015.
This work marks the first articulation of the artist’s concept of “Non-Color.”
Stoneware (unglazed with slip), thin iron rods, silicone tubing.
Installation dimensions: H 13.5 × W 122.0 × D 75.0 cm.
Electric kiln firing followed by charcoal smoking at 1250 °C;
reduction atmosphere.
Exhibited at the 8th Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale,
Icheon World Ceramic Center,
Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea,
April 22 – October 9, 2017.
Stoneware with iron rod elements; paper (drawing), 2 sheets.
Mixed media.
Installation dimensions: H 15.0 × W 142.0 × D 70.0 cm.
Object (pottery and iron component): 15.0 × W 105.0 × D 58.0 cm.
Electric kiln firing followed by charcoal smoking at 1250 °C;
reduction atmosphere.
Exhibited at the 4th International Cluj Ceramics Biennial,
Cluj Museum of Art,
Cluj-Napoca, Romania,
August 15 – September 20, 2019.
Stoneware with a surface evoking the lusterless texture of
traditional Japanese paper, with pigment and iron rod additions.
Dimensions: H 142.0 × W 107.0 × D 51.0 cm.
Electric kiln, charcoal-smoked, fired at 1250°C in reduction.
Exhibited in Contest of Unique Piece, N.A.CE. 2021,
13th National Fair of Pottery and Ceramics, Navarrete, La Rioja, Spain,
July 16–18, 2021; subsequently exhibited at the National Exposition until August 30, 2021.
Hand-built stoneware formed from a uniquely formulated clay blend; unglazed,
with a surface reminiscent of the subdued tones and fibers of 和紙washi paper.
The ceramic plate is structurally supported by a 1.6 mm steel sheet beneath.
Paper clay mixed with 胡粉 gofun (calcium carbonate) is applied in a central rectangular field,
with an integrated silicone tube.
Electric kiln firing under reduction, followed by charcoal smoking at 1250°C.
Exhibited at the 16th International Biennial of Ceramics, Manises, Spain, 2024.
Installation dimensions: 24.0 × W 125.0 × D 51.0 × cm.
Hand-built stoneware crafted from a proprietary clay blend;
unglazed with a matte surface evoking the texture and tonality of 和紙 washi paper.
Fired at 1250°C in an electric kiln under reduction, followed by charcoal smoking.
Silicone tubing is integrated as a non-ceramic counter-material.
Selected for the International Biennial of Contemporary Ceramic Art – Faenza Prize, 2025.
Appendix: Contextual Reflections and Historical Milestones
My work is grounded in the aesthetic of non-color―an inquiry into latency, material truth, and the silent potential that lies within clay before intention intervenes. Non-color is not the absence of hue but the presence of everything that has not yet been defined: a threshold where embodiment and erasure, matter and spirit, converge in quiet tension. From this field of unarticulated possibility, my practice unfolds.
It is from within this threshold of undecided becoming that my own path in ceramics took shape.
My journey in ceramics began as a quiet dialogue between philosophy, material, and being. Clay―both fragile and enduring―became for me not merely a medium of form, but a living field of correspondence between the visible and the unseen. Each gesture on the wheel, each trace of fire, carries within it an inquiry into existence itself.
Through years of practice, I have sought to reveal the inner resonance between matter and spirit, between transformation and stillness. Unglazed ceramics, in particular, have offered a pathway toward essence: a form of creation that resists ornamentation and instead listens to the silent language of earth. Within this silence, a philosophy unfolds, one that honors impermanence while quietly affirming continuity.
Over the course of my career, each exhibition has marked not an endpoint, but a phase in an unfolding rhythm―a movement between reflection and renewal. These exhibitions came to embody the shifting cadence of my artistic path: a gentle unfolding of form, material, and thought through time. Each moment offered a subtle challenge to convention, a gesture toward plurality, and a deepening inquiry into the interplay between tradition and transformation. Through them, I have sought to share not only ceramics but also the silent, enduring philosophy that continues to shape my creative process.
The dialogue between traditional ceramics and contemporary art remains a central motif in my practice. By placing unglazed, traditional works alongside modern pieces, I seek to reveal the quiet harmony between inherited values and evolving perspectives. Tradition offers not only aesthetic guidance but also philosophical depth―illuminating the balance between nature, essential value, and the core of creation.
One of the perennial challenges in engaging with tradition while embracing modernity is finding equilibrium: to honor inherited forms while allowing space for transformation. Though I hold deep reverence for the philosophy of traditional unglazed ceramics, I also recognize the necessity of integrating new materials and ideas to sustain relevance within the contemporary context. Yet these tensions are not obstacles but fertile ground. By weaving together the aesthetics and spirit of tradition with the inquiries of the present age, I invite viewers to contemplate the evolving relationship between the past and the present. While I may not carry the full philosophical lineage of tradition, I have come to embrace modern perspectives on nature, value, and the creative act. My spirituality continues to resonate with the quiet power of unglazed pottery―where transformation is forged in fire, and existence emerges through material. Works born of this ethos now reside in the collections of institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum, where the spirit of tradition and the breath of modernity quietly converge.
In this continual dialogue between past and present, I have learned that the true voice of creation does not arise from theory or inheritance alone, but from a posture of listening―listening to the silent language of material itself. It is from this quietude that the next chapter unfolds.
Continuing the dialogue between tradition and modernity, I have come to more deeply embrace a contemplative ethos rooted in Japanese aesthetics―an ethos that privileges listening and response over imposition. This orientation did not arise suddenly; it has gradually deepened from its earliest stages, shaped by the enduring turbulence of post-war Japan and the idealism that marked my student years. Amid the prevailing climate of political uncertainty and moral disarray, I turned toward the ethical and aesthetic core of Japanese art―seeking within it a compass for practice and a quiet path of resistance through creation.
These principles―在るが儘 arugamama (as-it-is-ness), 居着 ituki (reverence for the material), and kata (fundamental form or pattern)―have not remained abstract ideas in my mind; they have directly shaped the form, intention, and evolution of my works. One of the clearest manifestations of these concepts can be seen in the series “Vessels: Otherness.
“Vessels: Otherness,” exhibited at the International Triennial of Silicate Art in Hungary (2014), comprised twelve traditionally fired vessels, each arranged to evoke a quiet tension between form and immanence. For me, the encounter between flame and human presence during firing became a retrospective search for the unmediated―a gesture toward openness. I sought to question the notion of autonomy often inherent in the vessel form and instead to explore its potential to become an event: a moment in which matter engages the outside world and manifests a state of being. This was an attempt to liberate the conceptual “vessel,” returning it―if only for an instant―to the realm of primordial matter and unmediated transformation.
Through such explorations, my attention gradually shifted from the vessel as form to the act of making itself―toward the moment when matter and gesture become indistinguishable. My journey in ceramics led me to move beyond artificial glazes―to renounce surface embellishment and turn instead toward the essence of the medium: clay in its unadorned state. This was not merely a technical choice but a philosophical one―a quiet act of reverence for the material, for its innate beauty, its spiritual depth, and its capacity to embody meaning without adornment.
In works presented at the International Ceramic Symposium in Lithuania and the Korea International Ceramic Biennale, I explored the subtle tension between ceramics and other materials, seeking to evoke new sensibilities through their interaction. These works question the limitations of self-contained forms, revealing how representation often fails to capture the deeper essence of existence―its presence and its perpetual becoming.
My participation in the Lithuanian symposium marked a turning point. In that workshop setting, the absence of a wood-fired kiln meant I could not rely on natural ash glaze. Confronted with this constraint, I chose not to apply glaze at all. This decision―born of necessity―unlocked a new path: the path of white. It was there that I realized the pursuit of natural ash glaze, when followed to its logical depth, leads not to glaze but to its profound absence. For me, clay is not a surface upon which to impose intention, but a presence to be listened to. It is a quiet field of correspondence between earth and hand. The absence of glaze is not a void but an act of humility―an invitation for the material to speak in its own silent language.
The path of white gradually revealed itself as both material and metaphor―a quiet continuation of my search for essences. In my approach to ceramics―what I call natural or unglazed ceramics―I draw inspiration from the traditional Japanese concept of natural ash glaze and its inherent aesthetic sensibility. By departing from the conventional act of glazing and firing to completion, I seek to challenge prevailing ideals of perfection in ceramic art. Within the traditional Japanese concept of natural glaze lies a profound worldview―one shaped by restraint, imperfection, and quiet transformation. I aim to shift the paradigm from the pursuit of perfection through glaze to an embrace of non-color―a state rooted in the tacit presence of clay itself.
This exploration culminated in my work exhibited at the 35th International Ceramic Competition in L’Alcora, presented under the theme “Non-color.” There, I approached white not as a color but as a paradox―a field where embodiment and effacement coexist, and where mind and matter are held in a state of dynamic tension. In this context, white becomes a symbol of the unknown and the uncharted―a threshold I call 非色 ― Hijiki (“Non-color”). This idea of Non-color has since become the foundation of my artistic identity. By layering white upon both my works and myself, I sought to purify perception and dissolve inherited assumptions.
As my inquiry deepened, I began to explore new dialogues between materials―between the earthy density of ceramics and the tensile resonance of iron. Their encounter was not a matter of contrast alone but an inquiry into how differing substances might share a single pulse of existence. In the Physicality series, these two materials confront one another through their physicality, yet both embody a living stillness―a quiet tension that renders their relationship fluid and unresolved. Iron, with its weight and permanence, meets clay’s pliant fragility in a moment of poised contradiction. Paper, in contrast, emerges as fragmented matter imbued with potential function. It becomes a dance encircling the spiritual―a gesture of motion revolving around stillness. Together, these material worlds―ceramic, iron, and paper (drawing)―generate relationships that transcend both intention and containment, opening a liminal space where gesture becomes thought.
In 2020, as the pandemic descended, familiar boundaries between subject and object seemed to collapse. We were confronted with the unforeseeable―the incomprehensible. In response, I turned to the traditional practices of 墨絵 sumi-e or 水墨画 suiboku-ga (ink-wash painting), seeking to reaffirm the integrity of subject and object through gesture.
By employing brush-like lines to embody the physicality of both mind and body, I conceived the Physicality series as an intellectual suiboku-ga―a landscape not of ink, but of clay and thought.
Ultimately, my central theme is Non-color―an aesthetic that embodies the essence of traditional Japanese natural glaze (or its deliberate absence), while expressing the memory and perpetual transformation of the physical body through conscious restraint. Each material, gathered within a unified form, serves an essential role in the manifestation of my art. The unglazed ceramic, with a texture reminiscent of 和紙 washi paper and a soft, milky-white surface, evokes a sense of the spiritual realm. In contrast, the non-ceramic element―destined for dissolution―signifies the transient, perceptual world.
All things exist in flux, within an endless cycle of life, death, and renewal. This ceaseless transformation discloses the very nature of being itself―and within this rhythm, I quietly superimpose my own presence. In this quiet dialogue between permanence and transience, between the visible and the unseen, my work seeks neither completion nor finality. It remains open―an ongoing resonance between earth and spirit, between what is made and what continues to become.
My body of ceramic work stands as the culmination of a lifelong inquiry into the relationship between philosophy, material, and being itself. It is not an assertion but a meditation―a continual dialogue between presence and absence, restraint and expression. These works do not seek to explain; they aim to awaken reflection on the precarity of being, the inevitability of transformation, and the quiet persistence of matter through time.
In much contemporary ceramics, a disquieting separation from materiality has emerged. Ornament and concept often eclipse the essence of form, and the living dialogue between hand, earth, and fire grows faint. Yet it is precisely within this silence that I hear the call to return―to reinhabit the origin where touch, thought, and substance once converged.
To reclaim the artistic mission is to restore this communion: to let the hand think and to allow the clay to remember. Through the disciplined commitment of making, material becomes more than matter―becoming consciousness itself, a mirror of the mind that shapes it.
Guided by both tradition and contemporaneity, my practice seeks not mere continuity but renewal: to translate the metaphysical depth of Japanese ceramics into a living discourse that resonates beyond its cultural boundaries. This journey moves freely between the inherited and the emergent, the seen and the invisible―revealing ceramics as an art of transformation rather than permanence. Ultimately, my aspiration is to sustain a mode of creation that embodies humility, clarity, and reverence for the natural order―so that the art of ceramics remains a vessel of thought, carrying the tacit pulse of existence into the future.
A downloadable PDF version of this artist statement is available on SlideShare.
https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/non-color-reclaiming-the-material-presence-of-ceramics/284956464