■”PORCELAIN” Exhibition at Beaver Galleries in Canberra
□キャンベラ・ビーバーギャラリーにてグループ展’PORCELAIN’

My second group exhibition in 2020 will be at Beaver Galleries in Canberra ACT from 28th May until 14th June 2020.

I will be exhibiting my new porcelain “Up_in_the_ch+air” sculptural vases. If you would like to purchase my artwork,  see Online Catalogue and contact to Susie & Martin at Beaver Galleries.

Ar+iS+ S+T+EMEN+

Up_in_the_ch+air is one of my sculpture series I have been working for a while. I first started to make this series when I was at the National Art School period back in 2006. I was feeling very unstable and not knowing where to practice my art as I could not find my studio after graduation. At the same time, I had to move house and looking for a place to settle. I have been back and forth from Japan and Australia many years and searching for the place for my soul then.

I stopped making Up_in_the_ch+air series when I was living in the Central Coast NSW as I was busy raising my newborn while setting up my own studio in my backyard. After 20 years of living in Sydney & the coast, I recently moved house and studio from the Central Coast to Melbourne in December 2019. It was definitely one of the stressful events in my life as we drove back and forth interstate during the great bushfires.

When I finally settled at beautiful and historical studio at Montsalvat in Melbourne in the beginning of 2020, the first artwork I started making was Up_in_the_ch+air. I must admit that I felt uncertain and unstable as I just landed new house and new studio, however, I felt very happy at the same time. It was excitement for the unknown. All my previous house/vase is made from coarse stoneware, however I used Australian whitest porcelain for my new work and applied cobalt glaze.

Up_in_the_ch+air is sculptural house and functional vase. In Japanese culture where I was born and raised, we place a single flower or tree branch in a small vase and appreciate nature in handcrafted ceramics. Although I have been living overseas more than half of my life, Japanese philosophy and aesthetic has strongly stayed within me.

At the same time, studying ceramics in Australia gave me vast and innovative approaches to my practice. Many people say that my work is not 100% Japanese yet a bit of Australian in a whimsical way. I may get those comments from the viewers, because most probably I won’t stick to the tradition of ceramics. I sometime combine with textile, thread, wood, wire, and Kintsugi techniques (the art of Japanese mending for the broken ceramics) into my ceramics.

A chair somehow resembles an individual person to me as it has character and presence. You will find your place or sense of belonging when a chair is placed in an empty room. It also implies home, or gathering as there are always chairs when people get together.

In this uncertainty, my artwork may resonate to many people yet it may give them joy and happiness. Isn’t it amazing having an observatory chair on top of your house? Isn’t it fun putting chairs on top of the roof and drinking a glass of wine together while looking up the moon? Isn’t it heavenly when you always have a place to contemplate under the stars? I believe that dreamy conversation will begin though the artwork.

I am determined to create artwork that touches one’s heart even I feel like standing with one leg like my ceramic chair now.

May 2020, Keiko Matsui

2020年の2番目のグループ展は5月28日から6月14日まで、キャンベラのビーバーギャラリーで行います。

花器であり、オブジェでもある磁器の新作”Up_in_the_ch+air”を展示させて頂きました。ご購入希望の方は、ギャラリーオーナーのSusieさんかMartinさんまでご連絡願います。

Beaver Galleries