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Almine Rech

En Iwamura Glances and Echoes

Oct 25 — Dec 28, 2024 | Shanghai

Opening on Friday, October 25, 2024, from 5 to 7 pm

Almine Rech Shanghai is pleased to present En Iwamura’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, on view from October 25 to December 28, 2024.

One of the most inventive artists of his generation, Iwamura, who was born and brought up near Kyoto, has developed a singular approach to creating ceramic sculpture that has been influenced by his interests in Japanese cultural history and contemporary pop culture, his travels overseas, and his personal experiences as a relatively new, young father. Sophisticated, imbued with a sense of elegance that flows naturally from Japanese fine craftsmanship, and inescapably clever and fun, Iwamura’s works rethink and reinvigorate the long, influential tradition of ceramic art from they have emerged.
[…]

Surrounded by unspoiled nature and inspired by the area’s rich ceramics history, Iwamura tapped into his appreciation of handcrafted pottery from Japan’s ancient eras, including handmade vessels from the Jomon era (14,000 to 300 BCE) and terra cotta haniwa figures from the Kofun period (300 to 538 CE), as he began giving form to his vision of a new kind of sculpture. Centuries ago, cylindrical haniwa figurines, with their hollowed-out eyes and mouths, were placed on top of and next to tomb mounds. Seen from today’s vantage point, their simple but surprisingly expressive forms appeal to Japanese pop culture’s fascination with all things kawaii (“cute”).
[…]

— Edward M. Gómez, critic, arts journalist and author

Press release

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