Shinichi Sawada: Agents of Clay

Edited with foreword by Jen Sudul Edwards, and Lisa Melandri. Introduction by Jen Sudul Edwards. Text by Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy.

Anthropomorphic ceramics bridge the realms of contemporary art and traditional crafts.

The first solo exhibition of work by the Japanese ceramicist Shinichi Sawada (born 1982) is represented by the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis and the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sawada began creating ceramics in 2000 at Nakayoshi Fukushikai as part of a government program to help physically challenged and neuro-divergent individuals find employment and sustain independent and productive lives. For the last two decades, supported by ceramics facilitator Masaharu Iketani, Sawada has worked to produce alluring, mesmerizing figures: often hybrid creatures densely patterned with chopstick-traced lines, and painstakingly applied bumps, horns, and “scales.” This publication features approximately 20 of Sawada’s sculptures, creating an unbelievable array of forms and features that echo elements of outsider art history while also offering the opportunity to explore the millennia-old tradition of the Shigaraki kilns where Sawada works.

Paperback

64 pages

Dates of exhibition: April 27 - August 11, 2024