Presented in partnership between James Cohan Gallery and Jennifer Lauren Gallery, this will be Sawada’s second solo exhibition of ceramics in New York. In 2021, Jillian Steinhauer of The New York Times said of his work, “His sculptures are rich with allusions. The cartoonish, sometimes possessed looks of his creatures recall imagery from Japanese mythology and medieval bestiaries.”
Since 2000, Sawada has attended Nakayoshi Fukushikai – a social welfare organisation for disabled individuals – where he creates ceramics that are wood fired in a hand-made oven. While rooted in traditional techniques, Sawada’s ceramics possess an ornamental beauty that is both free and informal; a clear departure from the emphasis on purity of typical Japanese pottery. Sawada’s hauntingly expressive and chimerical sculptures suggest meditative spiked and thorned bodies that hover between human-animal and spirit-god forms.
Please note: This venue has a lift for access from the street.
Dawn Chan writes in the New York Times in March 2023 urging you to go and see this exhibition: “Reviews of his gallery shows frequently mention that Sawada, diagnosed with autism, is largely non-verbal. But more than building toward a human-interest story, this biographical detail represents an attempt to convey how compelling the sculptures are, even when their maker remains quite literally silent - unlike the many artworks that need artist statements or wall texts to take flight.”
Installation Views, Shinichi Sawada, Messengers, James Cohan, New York, 52 Walker Street, March 4 - April 1, 2023. Courtesy of James Cohan, New York and Jennifer Lauren Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom. Photos by Phoebe d'Heurle.