■Scar Vessels @ SLOT
□SLOTにて個展
I am exhibiting my scar vessels and chair sculptures at SLOT window gallery in Alexandria in Sydney now. Thank you for offering me the space, Tony Twigg the gallery owner and supporting and curating artist – Anie Nheu. I would like to share Anie’s words here.
Keiko Matsui’s installation of Scar Vessels series consists mostly of the porcelain pieces made in 2014 with the more recent chair series. These pieces are minimal in form. The variations that create their individuality are mostly in the way the porcelain sheets are folded and joined.
They enclose the space they inhabit and turned to vessels to contain. How these porcelain sheets meet dictate the forms they take. Inspired by the art of Kintsugi, the junctures are left with their ‘mending’ traces. Having them as an integral part of the identity of these forms, their appearance suggests bodies with healed scars.
The configuration of the familiar shapes found in the homes of the everyday conjures up intimate domestic setting. The use of scale in the ceramic chair with the ‘real’ chair provides a poetic narrative on the relationships amongst the assembled pieces.
This reminds me of Robert Therrien’s use of unusual scale in his re-creation of everyday objects as sculptures to strip the visual cue of their assigned functions. They are instead used as personal symbols to regenerate an emotional space of a childhood memory. This is echoed in Keiko’s installation.
In this installation beauty is sought in the making, mending and in the arrangement. The creation of beauty in this space is controlled. It is driven by the process of working with the intrinsic nature of the materials and an ‘innate knowing’ that has passed down through the generation.
Text by Anie Nheu
SLOTギャラリーで個展を開いています。24時間7日オープンですが、ウィンドウ・ギャラリーのため、作品は手にとって頂けませんが、限られた空間に存在するオブジェや器との会話を楽しんで頂けたらと思います。
Address: 38 Botany Road, Alexandria, NSW
Date/Time: 24 h x 7 days, from 7th May until 7th June 2017
![[Full Moon Jar] 30 cm diameter, 32 cm height, wheel thrown stoneware, slip, oxide, glaze, lacquer, gold powder.](http://keikomatsui.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1_Lunar_Full-moon-jar-300x220.jpg)
I will be showing my latest work at Small Spaces in Redfern, Sydney.My new work is resonate with the MOON – the motif I have been fascinated and admired for a long time. I’ve tried to capture the shapes of the moon and eclipse in my functional vessels. This time, I challenged on-glaze firing(requires 3rd firings), as a matter of fact, I fired more than 3 times for many pieces in order to achieve the color & texture of the moon.The exhibition starts on 16th Nov, however, there’s an opening drinks with artist on Sunday 20th Nov. Please come and join us.
The book “Clay: Contemporary Ceramic Artisans” by Amber Creswell Bell is published from Thames & Hudson on 1st October 2016 and I am delighted to be included one of the 53 international ceramicists in this book.
