Aichi Triennale 2019

Masumoto Keiko graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts with a master's degree in ceramics. Familiar with the Japanese tea ceremony since childhood, she developed an interest in purely decorative tools with no practical purpose and began to create ceramics in forms that dismantle the hierarchical relationship between the tool itself and the motifs that decorate it. In Sparrows/Plate set, the sparrows fly off the dishes on which they were painted; Pot/Tunnel features cars with lit headlights traversing a tunnel bored through the center of a pot. For Haniwa Pot(Warrior), surface ornamentation and essential function are turned upside-down when a haniwa figurine decorative motif is molded into the shape of the pot itself Masumoto works with long-established traditional techniques, while simultaneously transcending existing frameworks with her flexible, contemporary ideas. Her uninhibited imaginative power is sustained by her masterful craftsmanship.