shinichi sawada: messengers | new york times

In March 2023, the New York Times suggests exhibitions you must see in New York. Dawn Chan writes on the sawada 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.” 

Shinichi Sawada: Messengers is a collaboration between James Cohan Gallery and Jennifer Lauren Gallery, held in New York until 1 April 2023 at James Cohan’s 52 Walker Street location. 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.